Landa claims maiden Grand Tour win as Contador extends overall lead at Giro d'Italia

Astana's Mikel Landa claimed his first Grand Tour victory by winning the 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia ©Getty Images

Astana rider Mikel Landa of Spain claimed his first Grand Tour victory as he won the 15th stage of this year’s race from Marostica to Madonna di Campiglio today.

The 165 kilometres mountain stage provided high drama and entertainment as Landa proved to be the pick of the bunch as he edged out Katusha’s Russian Yuri Trofimov, while race leader Alberto Contador’s third-place finish saw him extend his overall advantage.

The Tinkoff-Saxo rider was just five seconds off the pace and he managed to cross the line one second ahead of nearest challenger Fabio Aru of Italy to stretch his lead to 2min 35sec on the general classification.

Costa Rican Movistar rider Andre Amador remains the closest competitor to Contador and Aru as he is 4:19 adrift of the Spaniard in third place.

The stage honours, however, went to Landa, who revelled in his performance on the gruelling stage and hopes his team can guide Aru to an overall Giro d’Italia victory.

“I was a bit nervous in the final kilometre but I saw that Alberto was more concerned with Fabio so I took my chance,” Landa said.

“We have a very good team for the climbs and this is the best part of the Giro for us now.

“We want to finish with Aru in the highest place.

“It will be difficult, but we will try.”

Alberto Contador of Tinkoff-Saxo managed to extend his overall classification with a third-place finish today ©Getty Images

Contador was at times left isolated throughout the race as the sole Tinkoff-Saxo representative in the chasing pack but he nevertheless produced yet another solid display to justify his race favourite tag and it appears even now he will be difficult to catch.

“At one time it felt like we were riding a team time trial,” Contador said.

“The pace was crazy but I was able to look after Aru when the attacks finally came.

“Of course, I was most concerned with Aru, but I didn’t let Landa beat me.

“Mikel Landa won the stage - and I take my hat off to him.”

The 2015 race is due to continue on Tuesday (May 26), following a rest day tomorrow, with the 174km 16th stage, which runs from Pinzolo to Aprica.