Alberto Contador crushed the field at the Giro d'Italia once again today, winning stage 16's uphill time trial to Nevegal by an astounding 34 seconds over Liquigas' Vincenzo Nibali, by far the largest margin between any two top-placed riders. In fact, the gap between #1 and #2 on the largest spread between two consecutive riders in the stage standings, except for the last two (Sky's Kjell Carlstrom finished last by 58"). Jose Rujano of Androni rode an especially nice race for fourth, putting him in the lead among a cluster of guys fighting for fifth overall, while Michele Scarponi of Lampre defended his second place overall from Nibali's challenge, finishing a mere 4 seconds back of the Sicilian climber. Other than that, not much action. Results:
- Alberto Contador, Saxo Bank, 28.55
- Vincenzo Nibali, Liquigas, at 0.34
- Michele Scarponi, Lampre, at 0.38
- Jose Rujano, Androni, at 0.39
- Stefano Garzelli, Acqua e Sapone, at 0.46
- Roman Kreuziger, Astana, at 0.49
- Denis Menchov, Geox, at 0.52
- Marco Pinotti, HTC, at 0.58
- Branislau Samoilau, Movistar, at 0.59
- Vlad Miholjevic, Acqua e Sapone, at 1.04
And the GC:
- Contador
- Scarponi, at 4.58
- Nibali, at 5.45
- John Gadret, AG2R, at 7.35
- Rujano, at 9.18
Full results here.