Contador tightens grip on Giro d'Italia as Gilbert claims second stage win

Belgium's Philippe Gilbert took a superb solo victory to claim his second stage win of the Giro d'Italia today ©Getty Images

Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert of the BMC Racing team took his second victory at the Giro d'Italia in stage 18 from Melide in Switzerland to Verbania, while Spaniard Alberto Contador tightened his grip on the overall lead with a perfectly-timed attack today.

Gilbert, who won the 12th stage from Imola to Vicenza last week, escaped from the breakout pack to cruise to a solo triumph, finishing in a time of 4hrs 4.14mins ahead of nearest challenger Francesco Manuel Bongiorno of Italy, who rides for Bardiani-CSF.

"It was perfect for me," he said.

"I took some risks in the first part of the descent but to win a stage you have to take some risks sometimes.”

Despite a stunning performance from the Belgian, the day’s plaudits largely went to Tinkoff Saxo’s Contador, who continues to justify his billing as the race favourite as he turned the screw on closest competitior and compatriot Mikel Landa of Astana.

The 32-year-old stretched his already ominous advantage to 5:15 over Landa, while third-placed Italian Fabio Aru, also of the Astana team, is 6:05 adrift of the leader.

His control of the race gets bigger by the day and owing to his prowess in the mountain stages, he looks increasingly likely to claim victory in the general classification with just three stages remaining.

Contador managed to stretch his lead beyond five minutes with a well-timed attack during Stage 18 ©Getty Images

Contador launched an attack out of the blue 40 kilometres shy of the finishing line in the 170km stage, taking advantage of an unfortunate crash involving Landa and other members of the peloton.

The collision left Landa adrift and Contador opted to seize his opportunity, clearly taking revenge for when Astana decided to go on an assault of their own after the Tinkoff-Saxo rider suffered a puncture during Tuesday’s (May 26) 174km stage from Pinzolo to Aprica.

"Today’s scenario was a bit different from what happened on the Mortirolo," Contador said.

"Before the climb, my team was working hard on the front and expending energy because we knew that we had to be at the front going into the climb, and we wanted to avoid problems.

"In any event, Landa was caught behind, for the first time in the race.

"I’m very happy to have gained more time in the general classification."

Tomorrow’s mammoth 236km 19th stage takes place from Gravellona Toce to Cervinia.