Alberto Contador lost the Giro d’Italia overall leader’s pink jersey to Italian Fabio Aru after being involved in a crash in the finale of the 13th stage yesterday.

The Spaniard, looking to become the first rider to win the Giro and the Tour de France in the same year since 1998, lost 40 seconds to stage winner Sacha Modolo, of Italy. Giacomo Nizzolo took second place ahead of fellow Italian Elia Viviani.

Astana’s Aru, who finished four seconds behind Modolo, took the pink jersey and leads Contador by 19 seconds ahead of today’s 59.4-km individual time trial.

Contador, who did not appear to be injured, finished the 147-km stage on one of his Tinkoff-Saxo team-mate’s bikes after he and others were involved in a crash with just over three kilometres left.

He is expected to reclaim the overall lead in the Giro this afternoon as he usually fares much better than Aru in the solo effort against the clock.

Australian Richie Porte, hit by a two-minute penalty on Tuesday, also took a tumble on a wet road and lost over two minutes as his Giro chances took another massive hit, yesterday.

The Team Sky leader now lags over five minutes off the pace.

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