Contador flies ahead of the Giro d'Italia pack

ALBERTO Contador has a firm grip on the Giro d'Italia pink jersey following his emphatic win in the 16th stage mountain time trial.

Alberto Contador

ALBERTO Contador has an iron-clad grip on the Giro d'Italia pink jersey following his emphatic win in the 16th stage mountain time trial between Belluno and Nevegal.

It was the Tour de France champion's second stage win of the race, extending his lead in the overall standings to almost five minutes over Italian Michele Scarponi.

The race ends in Milan on Sunday. Only a major mechnical mishap or a crash will deny the Saxo Bank-Sunguard rider from claiming another Grand Tour victory.

Much of Contador's success has been due to the unselfish work on the road by Launceston's Richie Porte, who was tipped to be one of the stars at this year's race. Yet for one reason or another, the race hasn't quite gone to plan for Porte.

Still, he has revelled in playing a support role for Contador. "It has been a really hard race," Porte told The Australian. "But I'm riding for Alberto and I'm having a ball."

With only one more mountain stage to race, Porte can expect to be given a little more freedom. Tonight's 17th stage is a 230km slog across the Alps from Feltre to Tirano, but with two medium-sized climbs near the end and a relatively flat finish it is likely to favour a breakaway or a small bunch sprint.

Of the remaining Australian survivors, Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo) is 137th, and 2hrs 37mins.15secs behind Contador. Teammate Matt Wilson, a cancer survivor from Melbourne, is the Giro's tail light at 3hrs 24mins.59 secs. and continues to wear the black jersey.

Elsewhere, there's no shortage of Australians on the start line for the Tour of Bavaria, starting in Pfarrkirchen later today. Stuart O'Grady, fresh from a strong showing at the Berlin Grand Prix on Sunday, is joined by William Clarke in the Leopard Trek colours.

Team Sky is pinning its hopes on Simon Gerrans, Chris Sutton and Michael Rogers for stage wins starting with tonight's 223.2km slog to Freystadt.

David Tanner also makes a welcome return to racing from a broken wrist he suffered in a race fall in the Ardennes. He's riding alongside the evergreen Luke Roberts, from Adelaide in the Saxo Bank-Sunguard colours.

Garmin-Cervelo will be well served by Gawler's Jack Bobridge and Inverell's Heinrich Haussler, who is also returning after suffering a knee injury.

For Bundaberg's Allan Davis, he'll have one ear cocked in the hope Queensland does the business against NSW in State of Origin tonight, as he leads the Astana train on the opening day prologue at the Tour of Belgium. Davis, a lifelong St George Illawarra fan, has spent the past fortnight training on roads in and around his European base of San Sebastian in Spain.

"I've been mixing the training up a bit," Davis says. "I've been out on the bike between four and five hours a day. A stage win over the next five days would be nice.''

Riding alongside him in the aqua colours of the Astana team is Melbourne's Simon Clarke, who has his sights set on the Tour of Switzerland next month as preparation for another crack at the Tour de France in July.

Graeme Brown, who dropped out of the Giro d'Italia early after missing the time cut, has the job of shepherding Dutch teammate Theo Bos in the sprint finishes for Rabobank. The quiet tip for the overall is Tom Boonen of Quick Step.