Alberto Contador stormed to victory during stage 16’s mountain time-trial and stamped his authority on the 2011 Giro D’Italia.
Contador looked to be struggling during the middle section on the climb and had to come out of the saddle on several occasions. El Pistolero came home over 30 seconds ahead of closest rivals Vincenzo Nibali and Michele Scarponi. Nibali seemed to have the stage wrapped up with his time of 29:29, which Scarponi couldn’t match.
It was the Spaniard in the Italian sandwich who became the only rider to venture under the 29 minute mark, to put a massive gap between himself and the rest of the pack. Contador now lies almost five minutes ahead of Scarponi and has surely taken the title, but for a major accident.
Other good performances came from Jose Rujano, who has struggled in the mountains, and mountain jersey wearer Stefano Garzelli. Rujano’s ride means he has jumped Mikel Nieve in the standings, to fifth place, placing him four seconds ahead of the Euskaltel rider. Igor Anton also helped his GC condition by pushing David Arroyo out of the top ten. Anton produced a stunning ride on the Mount Zoncolan to take victory and move himself in to third place in the standings. He dropped out of the top ten the following day as he struggled, after his huge effort.
Other riders struggle to hold on
Joaquin Rodriquez, Denis Menchov and Roman Kreuziger all held on to their positions in the general classification, but dropped a lot of time on Contador. Despite his reputation on the hills Rodriquez has struggled to assert himself on the other riders, leaving him close to dropping out of the top ten.
Many riders wore black bands around their arms, to mark the death of Movistar rider Xavier Tondo. The Spaniard was killed, as he prepared for a training ride at home, when he seems to have been crushed between his garage door and car. Few details are available of the incident, as there were no witnesses.
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