"He is the toughest fighter you will ever meet," Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo) said after finishing  Sunday's 15th stage from Marostica to Madonna di Campiglio in 49th position and at 14 minutes, two seconds behind winner  Mikel Landa Meana (Astana)

"You can count the people who have come and gone since he has been at the top. He just wants to win. He has an innate ability to set high goals and work at them.

"He is really one of a kind. It takes a great champion … not only in the hills, but on the flat and in the bunch finishes … He has always been there fighting."

The cycling world saw what Rogers, 35, was talking about in last year's Tour de France.

Then, Contador, now a six times grand tour winner after his Vuelta a Espana win last year, crashed on the 10th stage.

He  fractured his tibia but rode on for 10 kilometres before finally succumbing to abandon the Tour. Two months later, he was racing to victory in the Vuelta a Espana.

That same trait is something this year's Giro has witnessed at least twice.

The first was when he twice dislocated his shoulder after a crash with 200 metres to go in stage six, only to be fighting for the leader's pink jersey days later.

The second was with 3.3km to go in last Friday's 13th stage.​ Then, Contador was in a mass pile-up and in a virtually seamless move was back on his bike in no time and racing full throttle in pursuit of the race to minimise his time loss – and all that despite sustaining a calf muscle injury from the big chain ring of another fallen rider's bike.

That he took back the race lead from Italian Fabio Aru (Astana) with his third in Saturday's rain-stricken time trial, says something about his spirit when his back is against the all.

As does the fact that as others in the Giro fall on time behind him, his overall lead simply firms.

Heading into the Giro's second rest day on Monday, Contador's overall lead after stage 15 was 2:35 on second-placed Aru, and 4:19 on Costa Rica's Andrey Amador (Movistar) in third.

Rogers, 30th at 52:04 to Contador overall, says that he would normally have been by Contador's side up until the last stretches of the last climb to the finish on Sunday's 165km stage.

The stage was won by Spaniard Mikel Landa from Russian Yury Trofimov (Katusha), Contador and Aru in that order.

But Rogers lost his position after being caught behind a crash on the descent of the second-last climb of the day, after which Contador found himself outnumbered by Aru and his teammates.

"Unfortunately I got held up on the crash on the descent," Rogers said. "At the bottom of the climb Astana hit the gas.

"I was there at 20 metres and couldn't get back to Alberto, but unfortunately that is the way it is.

"You are very right in saying that the more men the better, but there wasn't much we can do. You can't control [the situation] if other guys crash in front of you.

"I would have been there. I was sent out there to the finish, but I think I could have supported him right up until the last part of the climb."

Because of his role as Contador's "team captain", Rogers realises that rules out any chance of him emulating his feat of two stage wins in last year's Giro that Contador missed.

And Rogers is happy for it, saying: "Last year I could do more or less what I wanted.

"This year the goal was – and always was – to ride to [the Giro finish on Sunday in] Milan with the jersey. That requires me to stay with Alberto the whole time."

Rupert Guinness is covering the Giro d'Italia as a guest of Eurosport. Eurosport is covering every stage of the Giro live until its finish in Milan on Sunday, May 31.