Philippe Gilbert doubles up as Alberto Contador twists the knife

It was a splendid second win in a week for BMC's Gilbert – and this time the 32-year-old had time to savour it.

Victor on Monte Berico in stage 12 by just a few slender seconds over the chasing pack, Gilbert had the luxury of being able to milk the crowds for his latest exploit on this increasingly thrilling 98th edition of the Giro.

Having attacked his fellow escapees on the long technical descent of Monte Ologno 20km from the finish, the Belgian soloed to a sweet victory on the banks of Lake Maggiore in Verbania with a comfortable 47-second cushion on chasing rider Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani CSF).

But as memorable as Gilbert’s second win of the season was, the main talking point of the 170km stage from Melide was without a doubt Contador's audacious and unexpected attack more than 40km from the finish on the only climb of the day.

With second-place Mikel Landa of Astana distanced by a crash that split the peloton, Tinkoff-Saxo's Contador decided to get his own back for Astana's previous decision to exploit his puncture ahead of the decisive climb of the Passo del Mortirolo during Tuesday's queen stage of the race.

Just as he had done in frenzied response on the Mortirolo, Contador ate up the 13% maximum gradient of the opening segment of Monte Ologno to ride clear of the main pack containing Landa's team-mate Fabio Aru.

By the time he reached the summit alongside Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin), Contador had opened up a gap of almost two minutes over his rivals in baby blue (Landa) and white (Aru).

After negotiating the demanding descent without any mishap, the Spaniard eventually crossed the finish line with a 1:13 advantage over the main pack to increase his lead over compatriot Landa - a previous double stage winner - to 5:15 on GC with three stages remaining.

GILBERT JOY: Without a win going into this year’s Giro, the former world champion has come out of his shell in the second half of the race with two victories in a week.

Gilbert was part of a 12-man break alongside BMC team-mate Amael Moinard and fellow veteran Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) which established a maximum gap of 13 minutes ahead of the decisive climb.

Italians Damiano Cunego (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida) were part of the initial break that formed after 48km of fast racing under the north Italian sunshine - but the pair were reportedly knocked down by a race vehicle in a nasty incident that saw Cunego withdraw from the race.

When the break reached Monte Ologno for the first ascent in the Giro’s history, Chad Haga (Giant Alpecin), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Garmin), Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge) and Maxim Belkov (Katusha) were distanced on the steep opening ramps.

Four riders - David De La Cruz (Etixx-QuickStep), Kanstantsin Siutsou (Team Sky), Bongiorno and Moinard – rode clear while Gilbert chased in another quarter featuring Matteo Busato (SouthEast), Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) and Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2R-La Mondiale).

Separated by less than a minute going over the summit, the two groups came together on the descent just as Gilbert exploited BMC’s numerical advantage by launching his game-changing dig 20km from the finish.

Once off the front, there was no looking back for Gilbert, who maintained a steady gap before starting his celebrations with 5km to go.

“At the meeting this morning on the team bus we said the breakaway had a big chance,” Gilbert said. “The other guys in the break went full gas on the flat but I knew I could be good on the climb so I didn’t go into the red.

“With Amael up ahead on the climb, I didn’t need to chase down – Chavanel and Nocentini did that.

“When it came back together I attacked and opened up a gap. It was perfect for me. I took some risks on the descent – taking some of the corners a bit blind – but to win stages on the Giro you need to take risks.”

CONTADOR’S PAYBACK: Just as the leaders were splitting up into different factions on Monte Ologno, the chasing peloton was itself split by a small pile-up featuring a cluster of Team Sky riders – most notably Vasil Kiryienka, winner of the individual time trial in stage 14.

News coming through race radio that Landa had been caught up in the debris was the cue for Tinkoff-Saxo to power on to the front of the peloton and exact revenge for Tuesday’s incident ahead of the Mortirolo, where Astana had unashamedly profited from Contador’s untimely puncture.

Landa was over a minute behind the main pack by the time he’d reached the foot of the climb – by which time Contador had already danced clear in a bullish attack clearly designed to remind his rivals just who was boss.

While Landa was able to rejoin the main pack alongside team-mates Aru and Tanel Kangert, Contador – despite one heart-in-mouth moment when he dropped a chain half-way up the climb – was able to combine with Hesjedal, the only other rider able to match his unseated surges, and Villella, who had by now been swept up from the break.

Although six minutes down on the leaders, the Contador trio at one point has almost two minutes over the main pack – although this came down on the descent when the race leader put safety before payback and eased off the pace a little.

But with a Hesjedal bent on making it into the top ten, Contador was able to maintain a large gap over the finish to increase his overall lead to more than six minutes ahead of back-to-back stages in the high mountains.

Hesjedal led the pair over the line for eleventh place, 6:05 behind winner Gilbert but 1:13 ahead of the ensuing pack. The 2012 Giro champion was rewarded for his efforts by moving up to ninth on GC, just over 13 minutes down on his pink-clad Spanish ally for the day.

Battle resumes on Friday with the 236km stage 19 from Gravellona Toce to Cervinia which concludes with three successive first-category peaks including the summit finish.

With Contador still looking for his first stage win on the race, the scene could be set for the maglia rosa to hammer the final nail in Astana’s coffin.