In a nation that’s produces sprinters like Texas churns out linebackers, Danilo Napolitano hardly rated on the power rankings in the Italian sprinter hierarchy.

All that changed Monday for the 26-year-old Sicilian when he bullied his way past Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) and Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) to win the 177km ninth stage by a whisker.

“This win is like three in one because I beat Petacchi in his home region,” said Napolitano of the Lampre-Fondital team. “It was a fight for Petacchi’s wheel but McEwen was there and I had to come around both of them. I am very content with this victory.”

T-Mobile’s Marco Pinotti enjoyed a relatively stress-free day in the maglia rosa as a four-man breakaway tore off the front on the day’s main obstacle at the Cat. 2 Passo del Cerreto at 72km.

Milram worked hard to deliver Petacchi to the line.

Photo: Graham Watson

Petacchi’s Milram team helped T-Mobile reel in the breakaway with seven kilometers to go to set up “Ale-Jet” for what they hoped would complete a Giro hat trick on home roads.

Petacchi hails from nearby La Spezia along Italy’s glittering Mediterranean Coast and family and friends packed the VIP area to wait for the sprint, but the finale didn’t follow the script.

Crédit Agricole succeeded in muscling Hushovd into the leadout position, with Petacchi relegated to an unusual position behind unfamiliar jerseys.

Hushovd unleashed his sprint with 250 meters to with Petacchi, McEwen and Napolitano pinned on his wheel. Petacchi swarmed the Norwegian, but Napolitano came off the fourth wheel to win by a whisker.

It might have been a mile for the burly Napolitano, who was a late addition to the Lampre-Fondital team. A pro since 2004, the victory was his 16th on his career, but his first in the Giro.

“I’d love to have a big train like Petacchi does someday because for the last five or six kilometers, he usually has it much easier than the rest of us. We have to fight, bump and scratch to get on his wheel,” he explained. “The entire team here is to help Cunego try to win the Giro, but they gave me this opportunity when a spot opened up late.”

With the win, Napolitano got some back against Petacchi, who beat him with a bike stab in Saturday’s seventh stage on the racetrack at Scarperia. Petacchi was quick to compliment the Lampre sprinter.

“I tried to win because of my fans here, so it’s a little disappointing,” said Petacchi, already a winner of two sprints. “We all know that Napolitano is a strong rider. He’s a different sprinter than me. I like to take a long sprint and he has a short punch in the last 50-100 meters. Here’s very explosive and it’s obvious he’s one of the best sprinters in this year’s Giro.”

Bouygues sprinter Yohann Gene crashed with 50 meters to go after clipping a wheel.

Argentine sprinter J.J. Haedo (CSC) scored his second top 10 with 10th while Hervé Duclos-Lassalle (Cofidis) – son of Paris-Roubaix champion Gilbert – coming through ninth.

Changes on the horizon
Perhaps it was the expectation of a sprint finish that kept the pace of Monday’s stage to a slow crawl for the opening two hours. The peloton took nearly than two-and-a-half hours to reach the summit of the day’s only climb, the Category 2 Passo del Cerreto at km 72.

It wasn’t until the final kilometer of the climb, when KOM leader Luis Felipe Laverde (Paneria) scampered away from the peloton to gain a few extra points, that anyone accelerated. When he did, Laverde towed along several other riders and four - Andrei Kunitski and Simone Masciarelli from Acqua & Sapone, Frédéric Bessy (Cofidis) and Nicolas Crosbie (Bouygues Telecom) – managed to escape on a long descent off of the climb. But never able to build more than a two-and-a-half minute advantage, the quartet was pulled back with six kilometers remaining.

It’s doubtful, however, that Stage 10 will offer anything resembling the dynamic of Monday’s ride. The 90th Giro shifts gears Tuesday for the grueling 250km, three-climb run from Camaiore to the summit finish at Santuario Nostra Signora della Guardia.

The break never posed a big threat

Photo: Graham Watson

It’s the Giro’s second-longest stage with an up-and-down profile that leaves little room for recovery. The summit finish at Nostra Signora – which climbs 8.8km at eight percent – is much harder than what the peloton saw in stage four at Montevergine.

“The climb is very hard and the riders are starting to get tired,” said two-time Giro champ Paolo Savoldelli (Astana). “I can expect some riders to have some difficulties. I think we can expect to see the first real differences between the favorites and see who is in condition to win this Giro.”

Results - Stage 9
1. Danilo Napolitano (I), Lampre, 177km in 4:57:08 (35.741kph)
2. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Predictor-Lotto
3. Alessandro Petacchi (I), Milram
4. Paolo Bettini (I), Quick Step-Innergetic
5. Koldo Fernandez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi
6. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole
7. Maximilian Ariel Maximilian (ARG), Ceramica Panaria
8. Duclos-Lassalle Hervé (F), Cofidis
9. Robert Forster (G), Gerolsteiner
10. Juan José Haedo (ARG), CSC, all same time

What does tomorrow hold for Pinotti?

Photo: Graham Watson

Overall, after 9 stages
1. Marco Pinotti (I), T-Mobile, 39:45:42
2. Andrea Noe' (I), Liquigas, 0:28
3. Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz), Astana, 0:54
4. Marzio Bruseghin (I), Lampre, 1:06
5. Francisco J.Vila Errandonea (Sp), Lampre, 1:10
6. José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Sp), Discovery Channel, 1:36
7. David Arroyo Duran (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, 1:43
8. Evgeni Petrov (Rus), Tinkoff Credit Systems, 1:51
9. Dario Cioni(I), Predictor-Lotto, 2:13
10. Alexandr Arekeev (Rus), Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil, 2:17