Basso Retained Overall Lead

The Giro’s ninth stage was a fairly easy one for Ivan Basso in the pink leader’s jersey. As expected the stage ended in a tough battle between the sprinters, and in fact it was so close that it took a photo finish to determine the winner of the shortest stage this year.

The photo showed Tomas Vaitkus (ag2r) beating Paolo Bettini (Quickstep-Innergetic) on the finishing line.

The day didn’t bring any changes in the overall standings and Basso was able to climb the podium again.

”We left if to the other teams to control the stage and we got through it quite easy. It was a short hectic stage, but without any serious attacks. The stage tomorrow is a lot more demanding and there will probably be a couple of attempts for us to control. Other than that the next thing for us to focus on is the time trial on Thursday, where we naturally have big ambitions,” said sports director Alain Gallopin after the 127-kilometer stage from Francavilla Mare to Termoli.