Rujano wins Giro 13th stage ahead of Contador

Venezuela\'s Jose Rujano won the 13th stage of the Tour of Italy Venezuela\'s Jose Rujano of the Androni team won the 13th stage of the Tour of Italy ahead of Spaniard Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank), who holds the overall leader\'s pink jersey. Rujano on Friday completed the 167km in 4hr 45min 54sec with Contador right on his shoulder at the line and Frenchman John Gadret completing the podium after the ride to Grossglockner in the Austrian Alps from Spilimbergo.

Contador is still racing under the shadow of a doping controversy going back to last year\'s Tour de France.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport earlier said it would hear hear his case from June 6-8 after the World Anti-Doping Agency and world\'s cycling\'s governing body UCI appealed a Spanish cycling federation\'s decision to rescind a year ban.
But he has been able to shrug off the controversy and clearly has found his form in the Giro so far.
\"It was tough,\" the Spaniard admitted of Friday\'s race, which he ended with a healthy three-minute gap back to nearest challengers Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas and Michele Scarponi of Lampre.
\"Happily, my legs responded well. I am very happy with the gaps made (on his rivals) even if there remain several difficult stages from here on in.\"
\"The object was not so much to win the stages as to gain some time,\" said the Spaniard, who said that he attacked 8.5km out as several rivals seemed to be on the point of preparing for a late charge.
\"I decided to go for it. You never know what can happen,\" added Contador, who indicated: \"I think I prepared well for this Giro.\"
With the race having already suffered a fatality - Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt dying in a horror crash on the third stage during the descent of the Bocco mountain pass - organisers indicated late Friday that there would be an amendment to Saturday\'s 14th stage, a 210km ride starting out from Lienz.
The vertiginous - 9 percent average gradient over 15km - and ultra narrow Monte Crostis descent, which would have been a tough challenge prior to the finish on Monte Zoncolan, will now not feature, sources close to the organisers said.

Rujano, six minutes adrift in the overall classification, said he reminded himself in the final few kilometres of how on Sunday he had suffered mechanical trouble just 600m out from the line when seemingly poised for a win.
\"But today I understood I could get in there in front of Contador. He is a great champion. He has already won the Giro, the Tour, the Vuelta. I am very proud to win ahead of him,\" said Rujano, who after various injury problems won the 2009 Tour of Colombia only to see his old team (ISD) not selected for last year\'s Giro.
He thanked Androni team principals Gianni Savio and Marco Bellini for giving him a chance to star this year.
Savio described Rujano as \"the biggest talent to come to my group. His career is just starting.\"