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2009 Giro D'Italia
May 9 - May 31, 2009

May 25, Monday: Photos from stage 16, Pergola - Monte Petrano, 237 km.


Yaroslav Popovych was part of an early break. He took off on the descent of the penultimate climb and was caught near the top of Monte Petrano.

Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and Michele Scarponi are chasing Popovych. They get caught by the fast-moving Maglia Rosa group near the top of the final climb. Scarponi was as cooked as he looks in the picture. Cunego soon dropped him.

Just like he did on L'Alpe d'Huez in the 2008 Tour de France, Carlos Sastre makes a well-timed attack on a difficult climb. The hill was too short and his pursuers too determined for Sastre to take the lead.

Di Luca and Menchov shadowed each other. Here they work to limit Sastre's gains on Monte Petrano.

To quote Floyd Landis, Leipheimer picked a bad day to have a bad day. Here Armstrong (black sox) pulls Leipheimer to the finish. Leipheimer lost almost 3 minutes and probably a realistic shot at the final podium.

Here's a picture earlier in the stage with Menchov getting an almost full Rabobank team escort. Further back Thomas Lovkvist is in white. He'll suffer a collapse later in the stage and lose more than 24 minutes and the young rider's white jersey.

Sastre's escape moved him up to third place in GC at 2min 19sec. There are probably 2 more stages that will be suited for Sastre's ability to gain time at a hilltop finish. Will they be enough to give him the lead and if so, will that lead withstand the final individual time trial in Rome?