Jose Rujano of Venezuela took the honours on stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia yesterday when he narrowly beat Alberto Contador to the line.

The pair came home together in four hours, 45 minutes and 54 seconds after starting the day in Spilimbergo.

“Of course I am delighted to have won this stage and beaten Contador,” Rujano said. “I am pleased with the time. I wanted to attack early and give myself a chance of finishing in the top three, so it was even better that I was able to win alongside someone like Alberto Contador.”

However, Contador’s second-place finish was enough to extend his lead at the top of the overall classification to 3 minutes and 9 seconds over Vincenzo Nibali.

“It was very difficult today, but at the end my legs responded when I wanted them to,” Contador said. “It was a very good day for me and I am delighted that I’ve been able to extend my lead. There is much of the Giro left, but so far, so good.”

Riders faced rainy conditions on the stage, which featured four major climbs, notably the 1,336-metre climb to Passo Di Monte-Croce Carnico.

Sprinters Manuel Belletti, Alessandro Petacchi, Danilo Hondo, Mark Cavendish, Mark Renshaw and Francisco Ventoso opted to skip the mountains and left the race after yesterday’s sprint stage.

Early in the stage, a group of 16 riders broke away and built a lead of five minutes. Robert Kiserlovski made a lone break on the penultimate climb on the Iselsbergpass, but was caught on the subsequent climb up Grossglockner.

After breaking for the front with less than 10 kilometers to go, Contador and Rujano took it in turns to lead the final climb, 2,137 metres up to Grossglockner before Contador relaxed and allowed the Venezuelan to cross the line in first place.

The riders remain in the mountains for the next two stages starting with the 210-kilometre trek from Lienz to Monte Zoncolan