Giro d'Italia winner Alberto Contador spoke of his delight at winning the race despite not taking a single stage.

The Spaniard was the first non-Italian to win the Giro in 12 years and felt he made the right decisions in a tough battle.

"Winning makes it worth interrupting my holiday," he said afterwards. "Everybody wanted to win this Giro, it was a very hard race. I only began to think I could win the Giro when I took the pink jersey but even then I knew I'd have to fight all the way."

It was not all plain sailing for the 25-year-old Astana man, who struggled at times but put in enough good performances to win overall.

"Every day of the final week of the Giro was a step forward towards overall victory," he continued.

"The hardest day for me was the stage to Alpe di Pampeago [stage 14 on May 24]. I didn't feel good that day, I got cold on the descent and felt very bad on the final climb.

"Friday's stage was very hard too. It was a delicate moment of the race because I could have lost the Giro. Fortunately I used my head and managed to keep the pink jersey despite the attacks by [Danilo] Di Luca and [Riccardo] Ricco.

"On the last mountain stage on Saturday I knew I only had to stay with Ricco. I struggled on the Mortirolo climb but I felt a lot better than on Friday and rode well."

He also spoke of his disappointment as Astana's exclusion from the Tour de France on account of repeated rider doping violations, but insisted that this win was sweeter for it.

"I honestly prefer to have to won this Giro than perhaps a second Tour de France," he added.

"They took a decision I don't like, I respect it but I don't think they'll change their minds. We'll just forget about the Tour this year. After winning such a hard Giro I couldn't go anyway."

Reda Maher / Eurosport