Ivan Basso is famously known for his ability to recover and is usually strongest at the end of a grand tour. Hence, it is all about staying patient for the veteran and he was pleased to again finish with the favourites in today's tricky Giro d'Italia stage.

The mountains are getting harder at this year’s Giro d’Italia. For Stage Nine, the riders once again were faced with climbs stacked at the end of the race. Of the 172km from Lugo to Sestola, the mountains begin with about 69km to go. They faced a category three climb followed by the intermediate sprint, followed by a category four climb, followed by a category two climb up to Sestola.

Cannondale Pro Cycling’s general classification rider, Ivan Basso has done this before, many times. As a two-time Giro champion, he’s attentive to the course and riders and his condition. He’s been biding his time both because the Giro is long and because he knows his form has yet to peak. Today was going to be another day of riding carefully, with an eye toward saving his energy and making sure he keeps the favorites close. At worst, he wants to stay in eleventh place. At best, smart riding will see him move up several places.

Now that BMC’s Cadel Evans is in the Maglia Rosa with almost a minute on his nearest competitor, the competition is keen to start chipping away at his lead and tiring both him and his team out.

Reflecting the seriousness of the day, it took the better part of 50km for a move to get established. Fourteen riders finally coalesced, and none were threats to any of the major competitions. In there was Cannondale’s Oscar Gatto, marking the move, thinking about how to maximize the benefit of his position for his team.

Fourteen riders is a big group, and the almost eight-minute gap was fairly large for a day like today. With time bonuses at the finish for the top finishers, the players behind might have made a mistake.

As the break topped the first climb, the Sant’Antonio, the fourteen had six minutes in hand. The field, led by BMC wasn’t setting off fireworks just yet. At the top of the second climb, the Rocchetta Sandri, the gap was down to 3:19 with 23km remaining.

On the brief respite before the final climb, Orica-Greenedge’s Peter Weening attacked. After several kilometers, he was joined by David Malacarne of Europcar. The two worked well together as the rest of the break faded back to the field.

Behind, BMC was setting a tempo that was shedding a few riders, but not blowing apart the field. When the road steepened, BMC riders, fatigued from a long day at the front, fell back when AG2R’s Domenico Pozzovivo attacked. Evans kept the pace as best he could, Basso stayed with him but the AG2R rider went on ahead.

At the finish, the leading duo had enough time in hand to slow to almost a standstill before slowly setting up for the sprint. Malacarne seemed the better sprinter, but he went first, and Weening came around with 50 meters to go for the win. Pozzovivo took third, making up 22 seconds on Evans. Evans finished fifth and Basso finished 20th on the same time with Evans. He remains in eleventh place overall.

After the finish, Basso pronounced himself pleased.

“Today’s stage is another little step on this long road. I’m happy, because also today I finished with the best, but I also know that on the mountain the story will be different for everyone. I need patience and am living this Giro day by day.”

Tomorrow is a rest day, the second of this Giro. On Tuesday, Stage Ten begins in Modena and finishes 173km later in Salsomaggiore Terme. The stage is completely flat, with an intermediate sprint 60km in at Mirandola. While the Green Machine will look out for Basso, and they’ll return to setting up Elia Viviani for sprint points. They will try to get the Maglia Rosso back and win the stage in the process.