Today’s Giro d’Italia stage 9 through Milan should have been an unbelievable spectactle…a Circuit Race in a Grand Tour? Yes, Please!…and in some ways, I suppose it was.  The riders banded together and spoke out against the safety of the circuit race stage, complaining that cars lining the street posed too great a risk for them to race all out.  Ultimately, race organizers caved and declared today’s stage times would not count toward the overall standings.
Most of the “race” carried on at a leisurely pace, with riders chatting one another up and waving to the crowds and, at one point, even stopping to address the spectators during which GC leader Danilo Di Luca took a microphone and explained to the crowd:
“We are going on. We wanted to stop and say thanks for your presence, but we don’t feel the need to risk it anymore. The circuit is not adapted to our security.”
They did, however, ride the entire 163km course distance, and at the end Mark Cavendish outsprinted Allan Davis (QuickStep) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin Slipstream) at the line for the stage win, making this the third consecutive stage win for Columbia-Highroad.  Overall classifications did not change.
Video’s not quite up as of this posting, but eventually you’ll be able to watch it and all the other stages on UniversalSports.com.  Monday is a rest day, with action resuming on Tuesday.
