VERBANIA: There is a reason why they say "don't poke the bear".
On the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia cycling's answer to the bear, Alberto Contador of Spain and his Tinkoff-Saxo teammates, reminded the rest of the field why as the race returned to the mountains.
In an ominous show of strength Contador, with help from his lieutenants, extended his race lead on the 170km trip from Melide to Verbania. His overall advantage on compatriot Mikel Landa (Astana) is now 5m 15s with Italian Fabio Aru (Astana) a further 50 seconds back.
Landa was involved in a crash at the 110km mark on Thursday's stage and at that point team Tinkoff-Saxo unleashed its fury on the road, cutting the second-place Spaniard adrift and forcing him to chase back. Ostensibly, Contador's team forced the pace in the peloton to set up the pink-jersey holder for a narrow climb up Monte Ologno, but many observers intepreted it as direct payback to Astana for their tactics on Tuesday's 16th stage.
On that occasion teams Astana and Katusha attacked the race leader by forcing the pace up front after Contador punctured a tyre on a descent and lost contact with the group of overall contenders. Many viewed that tactic as unsporting.
But such is Contador's form, the six-times grand tour winner and his team responded on Tuesday by driving a mighty chase that catapulted the Spaniard into a terrific solo pursuit that left him behind only two riders on the stage.
Whether or not Contador's attack on the road to Verbania on Thursday was a direct response to the controversial move by Astana and Katusha on Tuesday was open to some conjecture afterwards.
Tinkoff-Saxo said their pre-stage strategy was always to position Contador near the front of the group for the 10.4km climb of Monte Ologno because of the narrow and twisting roads at its foot in the town of Cannero Riviera by the shores of Lake Maggiore. And seeing the course, that made sense.
Belgium's former world champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC) won the stage by 47s from Italian Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani). Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel (IAM) beat five riders to take third at 1m 1s. Contador finished on the wheel of the 2012 Giro winner Canadian Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) in 12th at 6m 5s.
Asked for the reason behind Tinkoff-Saxo's tactics, their Dutch sports director Steven de Jongh said: "We wanted to lead on the approach to the climb because it was a small and narrow. The team was pulling when there was a crash. The team continued to pull to put Alberto in good position."
Whether their move was also payback for Aprica, de Jongh said: "I wouldn't call it payback.
"We were doing our race … Unfortunately, there was a crash, like on stage [13] in Jesolo when Alberto crashed [3.3km to go]. It didn't happen in front of them, the guys didn't know."
Contador's 'road captain', Australian Michael Rogers concurred, telling Fairfax Media outside the team bus after the stage: "I knew most of the course. The majority of them are my old training roads.
"We knew it was very tight through the town [at the foot of the climb] and our strategy was to hit that just as hard as I could and it was spot on."
But that Landa was caught behind the massive pile of bikes after 110km was certainly convenient at least.
Asked if the team's motivation was for Contador to gain time overall and enhance his already comfortable buffer with the Giro finishing on Sunday, or avenge Aprica, Rogers laughed.
The 36-year-old Canberran then replied, with a broad smile: "The big wheel turns doesn't it?
"I will re-say that our strategy was to go into that climb as hard as I could and what has happened behind us had happened behind us and we weren't stopping."
Rogers, who declined on Tuesday to judge the Astana and Katusha stage 16 move, then revealed how he privately reacted to it once all the accounts from all parties had been taken on board.
"We were very frustrated after the Aprica stage," Rogers recalled on Thursday.
"And I said, 'Boys … let's do it with our legs.' That's always the best way to do it."
Rupert Guinness is covering the Giro d'Italia as a guest of Eurosport. Eurosport are covering every stage live, up to and including Sunday's 21st and last stage to Milan
