Landa claims second straight Giro d'Italia stage victory as Contador extends overall lead

Spaniard Mikel Landa claimed his second successive stage victory to move into second place on the overall leaderboard ©Getty Images

Spaniard Mikel Landa of the Astana team claimed his second consecutive victory by winning the 174 kilometres 16th stage of the Giro d’Italia from Pinzolo to Aprica, while overall race leader Alberto Contador extended his advantage with an excellent performance.

Landa finished 38 seconds ahead of Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk, who rides for the LottoNL-Jumbo team, while Tinkoff-Saxo’s Contador came through to take third.

The result saw Landa move into second place on the general classification although he trails race favourite Contador by 4mins 2secs, a deficit he may struggle to overturn ahead of the event’s conclusion in Milan on Sunday (May 31).

Contador endured a difficult mountainous stage as he suffered a puncture and despite an unwritten rule of sportsmanship in cycling, other riders took advantage of his plight.

“It was a very hard day, an incredible stage,” he said.

“Cycling isn’t mathematics: I had a puncture on the descent.

“Ivan Basso gave me a wheel, but ahead they were going at full speed and it was impossible to close the gap immediately.

“It was hard for me, but I’m very happy with the time gaps now.

“To Mikel Landa, I can only say: chapeau.

“These are the stages that people remember.”

Tinkoff-Saxo's Alberto Contador extended his overall lead by finishing third in stage 16 ©Getty Images

It proved to be a disappointing day for Astana’s Fabio Aru of Italy, who dropped to third on the overall leaderboard and he is now 4:52 off the pace.

But the stage once again belonged to the 25-year-old Spaniard, who secured his first stage win on Sunday (May 24) and followed it up with another dominant display today.

“It was a really beautiful day for me, perhaps even better than Sunday,” he said.

“We saw that Alberto had a problem, and Katusha went full gas, so we worked with them.

“I really proved that I can be one for the strongest riders on the climbs and we still have several uphill finishes left.

“As a team, we will have to stick together and stay attentive, because what happened to Contador could happen to one of us.”

Tomorrow's 17th stage encompasses a distance of 134km and takes place from Tirano to Lugano in Switzerland.