Contador increases lead in Italy

Alberto Contador finished second behind Venezuela’s Jose Rujano in today’s 13th stage of the Giro d’Italia to extend his cushion as the overall leader.

With eight kilometres to go, the Spaniard attacked on the final ascent to Grossglockner in the Austrian Alps and was closely followed by Androni Giocattoli rider Rujano.

Contador allowed Rujano to take the win with both coming in one minute and 27 seconds ahead of third-placed John Gadret of AG2R.

Contador of Saxo Bank-SunGard extended his lead to three minutes and nine seconds over Liquigas rider Vincenzo Nibali in the general standings.

The 167km race started at Spilimbergo as the riders headed into the Dolomites towards Austria.

Despite early attempts for some cyclists to break away, the pack remained compact until 47km into the race.

Sixteen riders, including Movitar’s Pablo Lastras, pulled away and built a lead of four minutes and 10 seconds over the peloton.

At the summit of the Passo di Monte Croce, Lastras took the bonus points ahead of Lampre’s Alessandro Spezialetti and Pieter Weening of Rabobank.

With 45km to go, Astana’s Robert Kiserlovski went on a solo break as soon as the leaders hit the second category Iselsbergpass.

The Croatian rider took a one minute and three second advantage over the 15-man group with 25km remaining.

Euskatel, who had no cyclists in the chasing group, pushed the peloton forward at a fast pace and with 12km remaining, the leaders were overtaken.

Contador then increased the pace and pulled away with ease from the pack.

Lampre’s Michele Scarponi and Euskatel’s Igor Anton failed to take Contador’s wheel, leaving Rujano to follow the Spaniard.

Both Contador and Rujano finished the race in four hours, 45 minutes and 54 seconds.