Imperious Contador climbs into Tirreno lead

Spaniard Alberto Contador capped a spectacular day of racing on the fifth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico to claim his second successive stage win and take the race leader's jersey on Sunday. A day after winning stage four, the two-time Tour de France winner was in imperious form on the 190 km stage from Amatrice to Guardiagrele where he came over the line solo following a punishing, final climb having launched an incisive attack earlier. Overall victory rivals Michal Kwiatkowski and Nairo Quintana were among those who failed to respond to Contador's surge of pace on a long climb inside the final 30 km. While Quintana limited some of the damage, Omega-Pharma's Kwiatkowski finished a massive six minutes down, meaning Contador now leads the 'Race of the Two Seas' with a 2min 08sec lead on Colombian climbing specialist Quintana. Contador's Czech teammate at Tinkoff, Roman Kreuziger, sits third overall at 2:09. The race finishes on Tuesday with a 9.1 km individual time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto. Source: AFP