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Stage 12 of the 2009 Giro d'Italia took place on 21 May; the race concluded with Stage 21 on 31 May. The second half of the Giro began with a long and challenging individual time trial in Cinque Terre. It was in this time trial that Denis Menchov took the overall lead in the race. This was followed by a flat stage, after which most of the sprinters in the Giro withdrew from the race, as they did not figure to be in contention in the hilly and mountainous stages to follow. The sixteenth stage was considered to be one of two queen stages, most difficult stages, of this Giro, as it contained many high mountain climbs and the Giro's most difficult summit stage finish. After the second rest day came an unusual stage, one that was very short in terms of sheer distance but on par with previous mountain stages in terms of difficulty. These stages were won by Carlos Sastre and Franco Pellizotti, respectively, who fought for the third step on the Giro's podium behind Menchov and previous race leader Danilo Di Luca. Though Sastre went on to win another stage, to Mount Vesuvius, it was Pellizotti who finished the Giro third overall. The Giro concluded, as it had in 2008, with another individual time trial, this time in the city of Rome. Despite a dramatic and much-replayed crash in the stage's final kilometer, Menchov preserved his overall lead through this stage and thus, the conclusion of the Giro, winning his third career Grand Tour. ==Stage 12== 21 May 2009 — Sestri Levante to Riomaggiore, (individual time trial) The first individual time trial (ITT) of the 2009 Giro was a difficult one, long with quite a lot of climbing. There were two categorized climbs on the course, a quick, intense descent between them and no flat stretches at all. Lance Armstrong, who rode the Giro for the first time in 2009, described the ITT as "wicked hard". Reigning Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara called it "crazy" and laughed when asked if he would be a contender for victory.〔 〕 Cancellara was in fact the only rider who was still in the race to this point who did not attempt the time trial, instead abandoning the Giro. Many riders used normal road race bikes for this stage, as the course is highly atypical for a time trial, with roads that were not flat and straight. Most of those riders altered their road race bikes with the aerodynamic handlebars of a time trial bike, but some, including race leader Danilo Di Luca, did not. The climbs in the stage increased the overall chances for strong climbers who are relatively weak time trialists, such as Damiano Cunego and Gilberto Simoni. Acqua & Sapone rider Dario Andriotto set the early time to beat. After a while, Yuriy Krivtsov bested his time. Several different riders in succession then posted successively (but, in the first few cases, marginally) better times than the best time that had come before them. Alessandro Bertolini, David Millar, Marco Pinotti, Giovanni Visconti, Bradley Wiggins, and Stefano Garzelli were all briefly the stage leader after they crossed the finish line. Bertolini in particular was stage leader for about three minutes, as Millar started just behind him and barely beat his time. The fourth- and second-to-last riders to leave the starthouse, Levi Leipheimer and Denis Menchov, put up the best rides of the day, with Menchov between 30 seconds and a minute better than Leipheimer at the three intermediate time checks, and 20 seconds better at the line for the stage win. Menchov's ride propelled him into the pink jersey, while Leipheimer narrowly missed taking enough time out of Di Luca to move past him in the general classification. Di Luca finished sixth on the stage. A surprising rider to lose considerable time was three-time former world time trial champion Michael Rogers, who was almost three minutes off Menchov's winning time and slipped from third to sixth in the general classification. Reigning Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre was also unimpressive, 2'18" behind Menchov, but took advantage of Rogers' bigger misstep to move up to fifth overall.〔 |} 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2009 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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