Bruseghin does the donkey work to beat Contador

AFP ©

URBINO, Italy (AFP) - Italy's Marzio Bruseghin, riding for the Lampre team, won the tenth stage of the Tour of Italy on Tuesday, a 39.4km individual time trial from Pesaro to here.

The 33-year-old - who owns a vineyard and breeds donkeys - edged out Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of Spain while Italy's Giovanni Visconti, of the Quick Step team, retained the overall lead.

Visconti leads German Matthias Russ by 3min 31sec.

Visconti was delighted with his performance in the time-trial, a discipline that has not been considered one of his strengths, finishing 12th just over a minute behind Bruseghin - and he threw down the gauntlet to his rivals.

"This pink jersey is not by chance," said Bruseghin.

"I am not wearing it because of one solo escape. Those of my rivals who underestimate me are wrong."

Contador finished eight seconds slower than Bruseghin, which was better than his Astana team-mate Andreas Kloden who was third, 20 seconds adrift.

The specialist climbers managed to avoid too much damage in terms of losing time as Italian 35-year-old veteran Gilberto Simoni lost less than a minute and his compatriot and already two-time stage winner Riccardo Ricco less than two minutes, even, though he fell during the stage.

"I feel in good form and did not suffer a serious injury," said Ricco, referring to the fall.

"But I have to ask myself: what if I lose the Giro by less than a minute?"

Defending Giro champion Danilo Di Luca is over two minutes behind Contador, who is looking to the Giro as some form of consolation for not being able to defend his Tour de France title.

For Bruseghin - who drank a glass of his wine called Amets which is Basque for dream after the stage - it was his second ever stage win in the race, a year after also winning a time-trial.

"We mustn't let the young think that professional cyclists live like monks," said Bruseghin, who produces around 12,000 bottles of win a year and has a stable of 23 donkeys.

Wednesday's 11th stage is a 199km ride from Urbania to Cesena with several climbs in an area that the late Marco Pantani used to train in.

"I will do my best to honour the memory of Marco Pantani," said Ricco.