Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) showed the rest of the world who the strongest rider in the Giro d'Italia is as he crushed the opposition in the 20,6km mountain time trial from Mori to Polsa. He beat Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) by 58 seconds while Cadel Evans (BMC) disappointed and now trails the Italian leader by 402 in the GC.

Vincenzo Nibali has done many things in this year's Giro to indicate that he is the strongest rider in the race but nothing speaks as loudly as his dominant performance in today's 20,6km mountain time trial from Mori to Polsa. The race leader beat Samuel Sanchez by no less than 58 seconds while a surprisingly strong Damiano Caruso (Cannondale) finished 3rd a further 22 seconds adrift.

Already at the intermediate check, the Astana captain showed his superiority as he was already 30 seconds faster than Michele Scarponi (Lampre) who had the best time at that point up until the race leader passed. He kept extending his lead all the way to the top and he has now all but locked up his overall victory in the race despite the two hard mountain stages coming up.

While Nibali performed strongly, his nearest rival Cadel Evans was a huge disappointment. The Australian had hoped to gain a little bit of time today but instead he finished a modest 25th no less than 2.36 behind Nibali. Already from the start, it was evident that the Australian was on a bad day and he kept losing time all the way to the top.

His 2nd place has now come under threat by Rigoberto Uran (Sky). The Colombian bounced back from a very bad start and climbed the second part of the ascent almost as fast as Nibali. He finished 6th and is now only 10 seconds behind Evans in the battle for the runner-up spot.

Another winner in today's stage was Michele Scarponi who has been recovering from some tough days in the mountains and showed his strength by being runner-up at the intermediate check. He lost a little bit in the second part of the course but his 4th place shows that he is very much still in a serious podium contender.

Samuel Sanchez has given many indications that he - once again - is getting stronger as the race goes on. When he passed the intermediate time check, he crushed the lead time set by Dario Cataldo (Sky) and he kept increasing his lead all the way to the top. However, he realized early on that he had no chance to beat Nibali and he was clearly disappointed to have come so close to achieving his stage win objective.

The big surprise of the day was Damiano Caruso. The Cannondale captain took a gamble two days ago by joining the early break and that cost him 17 minutes and he fell out of top 10 contention. Today he bounced back strongly and held the best time until Sanchez cut 22 seconds off his time of 45.49.

The battle for the white jersey was fierce as Carlos Betancur (Ag2r) and Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) were only separated by 5 seconds prior to the stage. Both performed strongly and finished 7th and 5th respectively but the time difference of 7 seconds was enough to put the Pole back into the lead in the young riders' competition.

From the top 10 Evans was not the only rider who performed worse than expected. Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini) was only 24th while Robert Gesink (Blanco) and Benat Intxausti were even further down the score sheet. On the other hand, Przemyslaw Niemiec once again had a good ride to finish 12th but both Majka and Betancur edged closer to his overall 5th place.

The early best time was set by Steve Cummings (BMC) who was the 17th rider down the ramp but quickly set a time that was much better than what had been seen up until that point. He stayed in the hot seat for more than an hour before Eros Capecchi (Movistar) shave another 13 seconds of the best performance.

Italian time trial champion Dario Cataldo (Sky) was the next to lower the mark by 45 seconds but he only stayed in pole position for a short amount of time as Stef Clement lowered the mark by another 4 seconds a few moments later. The Dutchman kept the lead until Caruso was even faster but when the Cannondale rider crossed the line, he already knew that Sanchez was on fire a little further down the course.

Sanchez took a comfortable lead and from then on a long a nervous wait in the hot seat was in store for the Euskaltel leader. He got an early scare when Scarponi lowered his mark at the intermediate check but the real blow to his winner chances came when Nibali passed the check as the last rider on the course. From that point there was never any doubt as to who would win the stage and Nibali comfortably sailed across the finish line in pouring rain to firmly stamp his authority on his home grand tour.

Top 10:

1 Vincenzo Nibali - Astana Pro Team 44.29
2 Samuel Sanchez - Euskaltel - Euskadi 00:58
3 Damiano Caruso - Cannondale Pro Cycling Team 01:20
4 Michele Scarponi - Lampre - Merida 01:21
5 Rafal Majka - Team Saxo-Tinkoff 01:25
6 Rigoberto Uran - Sky Procycling 01:26
7 Carlos Betancur - AG2R La Mondiale 01:32
8 Stef Clement - Blanco Pro Cycling Team 01:36
9 Dario Cataldo - Sky Procycling 01:41
10 Danilo Di Luca - Vini Fantini 01:52

General classification:

1 Vincenzo Nibali - Astana Pro Team 73:55:58
2 Cadel Evans - BMC Racing Team 04:02
3 Rigoberto Uran - Sky Procycling 04:12
4 Michele Scarponi - Lampre - Merida 05:14
5 Przemyslaw Niemiec - Lampre - Merida 06:09
6 Rafal Majka - Team Saxo-Tinkoff 06:45
7 Carlos Alberto Betancur - AG2R La Mondiale 06:47
8 Mauro Santambrogio - Vini Fantini 07:30
9 Benat Intxausti - Movistar Team 08:36
10 Samuel Sanchez - Euskaltel - Euskadi 09:34

Points classification:

1. Mark Cavendish 113

2. Cadel Evans 109

3. Vincenzo Nibali 103

4. Carlos Betancur 94

5. Mauro Santambrogio 89

Mountains classification:

1. Stefano Pirazzi 79

2. Giovanni Visconti 45

3. Jackson Rodriguez 41

4. Carlos Betancur 32

5. Robinson Chalapud 31

Youth classification:

1. Rafal Majka 74.02.43

1. Carlos Betancur +0.02

3. Wilco Kelderman +10.18

4. Darwin Atapuma +19.13

5. Diego Rosa +31.37

Teams classification:

1. Team Sky 221.35.10

2. Blanco +5.49

3. Movistar +7.01

2. Astana +7.55

5. Lampre +9.59