Giro d'Italia: Giro d'Italia: Gilbert wins, Contador causes discussions

Cycling: Today in Verbania, Philippe Gilbert clinched his second victory of the day at this year's Giro. As with his victory a few days ago, he gave the competition no chance at all - today he even drove to victory as a soloist. Alberto Contador is gaining time on Aru and Landa, but the manner in which it is done is likely to cause controversy.

Early in the day, the 32-year-old Belgian from the BMC team set the course for victory. After a few kilometers he made it into the breakaway group of the day, which also included Sylvain Chavanel (IAM), David de la Cruz (Etixx-Quick Step), Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r), Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani-CSF), Kanstantsin Sioutsou (Sky) and Alexander Porsev (Katusha) were on the road. For a long time, this group circled alone at the top, but in the meantime the lead grew to over 12 minutes.

Behind them, everyone watched each other - also the classification riders Contador, Aru and Landa, but for a long time little happened - up to the foot of the first and only real climb of the day, the Monte Ologno (1st category). There, in the back third of the field, there was a crash involving several drivers. Although Mikel Landa did not fall, he was slowed down as he was behind the fallen riders at the time. So while one Spaniard tried to get back on the field with the help of his teammates, the other – namely Contador – reacted promptly. Namely, he took advantage of Landa's fall and disability and pulled away. Up to that point, Aru had been able to hold the rear wheel of the Tinkoff captain, but now had to let it tear off. This action by Alberto Contador should cause some discussions, but it should have been the return carriage for a similar action by Astana on Mortirolo.

The finale wasn't too exciting - with a little less than 20km to go, Gilbert attacked and pulled away solo. In the end he was 47 seconds ahead of second-placed Francesco Bongiorno of Bardiani-CSF and more than a minute over third-placed Sylvain Chavanel (IAM). Alberto Contador extended his lead, finishing 1:13 ahead of the Astana group of Landa and Aru.

Final result stage 18 Giro d'Italia 2015

[easy table th=“0″]

1.,Philippe Gilbert,BEL,BMC,04:04:14

2.,Francesco Bongiorno,ITA,Bardiani-CSF,00:00:47

3.,Sylvain Chavanel,FRA,IAM,00:01:01

4.,Matteo Busato,ITA,Southeast,

5.,Amael Moinard,FRA,BMC,

6.,David de la Cruz,SPA,Etixx-QuickStep,

7th,Rinadlo Nocentini,ITA,ag2r-La Mondiale,

8.,Kantantsin Siutsou,BLR,Sky,

9.,Chad Haga,USA,Giant-Alpecin,00:02:42

10., Pieter Weening, NED, Orica-GreenEdge, 00:03:55

[/easy table]

Overall rating