Contador wraps up second Giro d’Italia title

Alberto Contador finished third in the today’s Giro d’Italia’s final 26km time trial around Milan to take his second Giro title. It’s also the controversial Spaniard’s sixth Grand Tour victory and the widest margin by which he’s ever won a Grand Tour, eclipsing the 4:11 he prevailed over Andy Schleck in the 2009 Tour de France. Michele Scarponi of Lampre held off Liquigas’s Vincenzo Nibali to finish runner up, 6:10 behind Contador, the largest Giro final general classification gap since Ivan Basso’s 9:18 over Jose Enrique Guitierrez in 2006.

David Millar, the British Garmin-Cervelo rider who wore pink early in the race, took the Milan time trial victory at 30:31, with Contador 36 seconds in arrears. Millar’s first Giro stage win gives him a stage triumph in all three Grand Tours.

Contador has ridden under a cloud of suspicion and resentment since the Spanish cycling federation reinstated his racing status after UCI suspension for the detection of clenbuterol during last year’s Tour de France. His hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, originally scheduled for before the Tour de France, now appears to be postponed until after the Tour.

Contador took both the final pink leader’s jersey and the red points jersey. Past Giro winner Stefano Garzelli prevailed in the mountains competition and Astana’s Roman Kreuziger wore the final white young rider’s jersey.

The 94th edition of the Giro d’Italia was an especially arduous one. Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt died after a crash on stage three, prompting his Leopard-Trek team to withdraw after a neutralized memorial stage. Movistar riders were burdened with the news of the death of their teammate Xavier Tondo. The climbing was brutal and seemingly endless. Only three-quarters of the riders who started three weeks ago finished today in Milan.