Contador suffers but poised to win Giro (Reuters)

(Reuters) – Barring a crash in Sunday’s final stage, Alberto Contador is poised to win the Giro d’Italia after the Spaniard limited the damage on the 20th stage, a punishing 199-km trek from Saint-Vincent to Sestriere on Saturday. The Tinkoff-Saxo rider, who won the race in 2008, lost touch with his main rivals in the penultimate climb, up the narrow dirt roads to the Colle delle Finestre, but retained the overall leader’s pink jersey. At the end of the final ascent to Sestriere, Contador was sixth, two minutes 26 seconds behind stage winner Fabio Aru of Italy, who is second overall, two minutes two seconds behind with only one flat stage left to Milan.