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Kings of Spain at Giro

Milan - Spaniard Igor Anton of the Euskaltel team won the 14th stage of the Tour of Italy on Saturday, with compatriot Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) retaining the overall leader's pink jersey.

Contador finished just 33 seconds off Anton after negotiating the final gruelling 10.1km climb, with Italian Vincenzo Nibali in third on the day's racing that ended in driving rain.

Anton jumped from seventh to third in the overall standings, 1sec off Nibali and 3min 21sec behind Contador, and was left elated by what he called his "most beautiful victory".

"I remember having seen Zoncolan on the television, the victories of (Gilberto) Simoni, (Ivan) Basso," he said.

"There was a risk in attacking, and I bet against myself. You had to remain very focused, work out the distances while looking behind me.

"It was a very tough climb and 5km from the finish I didn't know too much about where my rivals were. I suffered a lot and the satisfaction of having won is even more sweet."

Contador added: "I'm very, very tired. Igor did well, and me, well I was thinking about the overall standings.

"Vincenzo (Nibali) had a great ascent. When I kicked before the 1km mark, I, above all, sought to gain a few seconds which could be very useful at the finish in Milan.

"Nibali showed that he's a very strong rival, to watch in the Giro's last week."

Nibali said his team had been instrumental in setting up his third place finish.

"I felt great. I know the ascent well and I asked my team-mates to work at the foot of the Zoncolan," the Italian said.

"During the climb, I asked Contador to take it in turns, to have a bit of a breather, but he didn't want to and accelerated.

"I wouldn't have done as he did but everyone's free to race their own race. He's very strong. It'll be tough to claw back the three minutes he's up. But the Giro's not over."

The stage, which started in the Austrian city of Lienz, was altered by safety officials.

They deemed the Monte Crostis section, which includes a vertiginous -nine percent average gradient over 15km - and ultra narrow descent, too dangerous and tough a challenge prior to the finish on Monte Zoncolan.

jm/lp/pi11

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