Contador plays down comparisons with Indurain

Alberto Contador joined Miguel Indurain as the only Spanish winner of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday but admitted he knew little about his renowned compatriot and was keen to play down any comparisons.

Indurain won the Giro in 1992 and 1993 and the Tour de France five times between 1991 and 1995.

Astana team leader Contador, who won the 2007 Tour de France, held on to a four-second lead over Italy's Ricardo Ricco in the last mountain stage on Saturday before increasing the advantage in the final time trial on Sunday.

"I never dreamed that I could be the successor to Miguel Indurain in the Giro d'Italia but it's nice," Contador told reporters. "I didn't see when he won the Giro because I was playing marbles and football like every young person."

Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel said the Spaniard was almost as strong as seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Contador was more modest.

"I'm still young and I don't think I'm a champion like Indurain or Armstrong," he said.

"It was a little bit of a surprise for some people that I won the Tour de France last year but perhaps the surprises are over. Now I know I'm among the favourites to win whether I'm in form, or not.

"I came here to win the Giro but it wasn't easy. I didn't have the usual time to prepare for the Giro because we were invited at the last minute.

I just took things day by day and managed to win thanks to the right tactics and a very good team to help me."

Astana, hit by doping scandals over the past two years, were initially left out of this season's Giro. They were asked to leave last year's Tour de France following Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov's positive test for blood doping after his stage win in Albi.

Compatriot Andrej Kashechkin has been sacked after also testing positive for blood doping on Aug. 1 in Turkey.

However, Astana have overhauled their structure, with former Discovery Channel manager Bruyneel taking over from Swiss Marc Biver.

It was not enough for the Tour de France organisers to invite them to the July 5-27 event but Giro organisers RCS eventually changed their minds and asked them to take part in the race a week before the start.

Contador will now target the road events in the Beijing Olympic Games before riding La Vuelta in September.

"Winning a major stage race costs a lot but I'm going to stick to my plans. If I win the Giro and the Vuelta it will be better than even winning the Tour de France," he said.

Last 10 Giro winners

1999 Ivan Gotti; 2000 Stefano Garzelli; 2001 Gilberto Simoni; 2002 Paolo Savoldelli; 2003 Simoni; 2004 Damiano Cunego; 2005 Savoldelli; 2006 Ivan Basso; 2007 Danilo Di Luca; 2008 Alberto Contador.