Adriano Malori (Movistar) proved that he is now definitely one of the time trialing giants when he beat Fabian Cancellara (Trek), Bradley Wiggins (Sky), and Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) into the minor position in the final flat 9.2km time trial of Tirreno-Adriatico. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) wasn't on his best day but a 29th place was enough for him to seal a comfortable overall win in the Italian race ahead of Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and his teammate Roman Kreuziger.

In the past few years, Adriano Malori has been knocking on the door to take a very big time trial win and today he finally came of age when he beat all the greatest time trialists on the traditional flat 9.2km out-and-back course in San Benedetto del Tronto that is the scene of the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. The Italian stormed around the course in a time of 10.13 to not only beat the biggest specialist but do so with a comfortable margin.

In fact, his winning time was a massive 12 seconds faster than the one that world champion Tony Martin had posted during his winning rider one year earlier. On that occasion, Malori had finished 2nd but today no one was even close to the fabulous Italian.

Malori was the first of the big favourites to start and he comfortably beat Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) who was leading the race at that point. He now had to await the arrival of Martin, Bradley Wiggins, Fabian Cancellara, and Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) to find out whether his time was good enough to take the win.

Cancellara got closest but posted a time that was 6 seconds too slow but set his best time yet on the course where he has twice taken the win. Wiggins proved improving condition by taking 3rd while it was another great disappointment for world champion Martin who could only manage 4th, meaning that he is yet without a win after contesting three time trials in 2014. Kwiatkowski was 7th, paying the price for a hard week of racing for the GC.

Alberto Contador failed to do one of his best time trials as he finished far back in 29th but it was easily enough to defend his overall lead. However, it must be a cause for concern that he was beaten by Nairo Quintana on the flat course, with the Colombian finishing 20th in a time that was 3 seconds faster than the Spaniard's.

Roman Kreuziger had hoped to move up into 2nd but as he was also beaten by Quintana, finishing 2 seconds behind the tiny Colombian, he had to settle for third. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) rode solidly to move into 4th while Julian Arredondo (Trek) defended himself well to finish in the top 5.

Peter Sagan (Cannondale) won the points jersey while Marco Canola (Bardiani) took home the mountains jersey for his small Italian team. Quintana was of course the best young rider while Ag2r took the teams classification by placing no less than three riders in the top 15.

With the Tirreno-Adriatico now over, the WorldTour will be put on hold until Sunday when it is time for the first big classic: Milan-Sanremo.

A flat course

For the fourth year in a row, the Tirreno-Adriatico ended with the almost exact same 9.2km course in San Benedetto del Tronto. The out-and-back route took the riders down the seafront and was completely flat and non-technical. It was expected to suit the biggest specialists who were all in attendance, meaning that the win was a very prestigious one.

The first rider down the ramp was Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana) who took off at 13.00 and posted a time of 11.05 to set the first mark of the day. However, one of the day's favourites, Alex Dowsett, was already the sixth rider on the course and he quickly set the early standard by positing a time of 10.33.

Hepburn far off the mark

Michael Hepburn (Orica-GreenEDGE) - winner of the Tour of Qatar TT - was the first to get close with a time of 10.46 but for a long time no one was able to challenge the time set by Dowsett. i fact, the only other riders to go under 11 minutes from the first 35 starters were Nikias Arndt (Giant-Shimano) and Marco Coledan (Bardiani) with 10.57 and 10.54 respectively.

Daniele Bennati is a past runner-up of this time trial and he slotted into 2nd when he set a time of 10.41. Robert Wagner (Belkin) also had a good ride to move into the provisional 4th with 10.53.

Demare surprises

Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo) made it two riders from his team on the provisional podium when he set a time of 10.45 while Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin) performed solidly with 10.50. Sprinter Arnaud Demare (FDJ) proved his excellent condition when he set a time of 10.44 to take the provisional 3rd,

Dowsett managed to stay in the hot seat for almost an hour but his team was finally beaten when one of our jokers for today Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) powered around the course in a time of 10.32 to beat the Brit by just one second.

Malori crushes the opposition

Manuel Quinziato (BMC) did a great ride to slot into third with a time of 10.36 but all eyes were now on Malori and Martin who were both on the course. Few believed what they had seen when the Italian crossed the line in a time that was 19 seconds faster than Dumoulin's and a massive 12 seconds faster than Martin's 2013 time.

It was now clear that Martin had to be on a good day to beat Malori but the German certainly wasn't. His time of 10.28 was only good enough for seconds while Malori could make a sigh of relief.

Fine performance for Durbridge

Yaroslav Popovych (Trek) produced a decent ride to finish just outside the top 10 while Andrey Amador (Movistar) who was 3rd one year ago set a time of 10.44 to move into the provisional top 10. Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEDGE) had hoped to contend for the win but his time of 10.26 was only good enough for 6th and an ultimate 10th place.

It was now time for Wiggins and Cancellara to start their rides and Malori faced a nervous wait. The Brit was first to cross the line but his time was 11 seconds too slow. Cancellara did better but missed 6 seconds to take the lead.

Disappointment for Castroviejo

Stijn Devolder (Trek) did a good ride to move into the top 10 with a time of 10.37 while Peter Sagan (Cannondale) tried to go full gas to score a few points for the points jersey but could only manage 10.52. Spanish champion Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) had a disastrous day with a time of 10.55 to finish far down the rankings.

Tobias Ludvigsson (Giant-Shimano) had a disappointing ride with 10.51 and so Kwiatkowski was now the only realistic challenger to Malori's crown. The Pole did a decent ride to take 7th but was far off the mark set by the Italian.

The GC is reshuffled

It was now time for the GC battle to start and Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) emerged as the strongest of the top 15 contenders when he posted a time of 10.47. Michele Scarponi (Astana) set a time of 11.03 and that would ultimately move him from 11th to 9th as Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) and Mikel Nieve (Sky) both had poor performances.

Robert Kiserlovski (Trek) did the time trial of his life to move from 10th to 7th on GC while Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r) was another winner as he moved from 8th to 6th. Arredondo did well to defend his top 5 spot while Peraud's time of 10.53 was not even close to netting him a podium spot.

Now the main question was whether Kreuziger would make it a 1-2 for Tinkoff-Saxo but when Quintana crossed the line in a time that was two seconds faster than the Czech's, the answer to that question was an obvious one. Finally, Contador crossed the line in 10.54 and while he was happy to celebrate the overall win, the TT performance left him with a bittersweet taste.