the 2008 giro d'italia was led for many days by giovanni visconti who had gained the lead after participating in a breakaway. eventual winner alberto contador first took the lead of the race after the second mountain stage, to marmolada, by finishing nearly fifteen minutes ahead of previous race leader gabriele bosisio – who had just gained the lead the stage before. in the race's final week, contador faced stern challenges from riccò and defending giro champion danilo di luca; however, their efforts bore no fruits as contador went on to win the race. russian denis menchov won the 2009 centennial edition of the giro, after having taken the lead in a long time trial in stage 12, and defended it vigorously against attacks from his closest challenger, danilo di luca, during the mountain stages of the final week. di luca came in second, 41 seconds behind the winner, and won the points classification. subsequent to the giro, both he and third-place finisher franco pellizotti became embroiled in doping scandals, were given bans, and had their results stripped.