Tirreno-Adriatico 12-18 March 2014

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Current standing:

 

Time at finish:

1 Adriano Malori (Ita) Lampre-Merida 10:13

2 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek 10:19

3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky 10:24

4 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 10:28

5 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Shimano 10:32

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Cadel Evans (BMC) withdrew from Tirreno-Adriatico before this afternoon's time trial. The Australian has struggled in Italy this week, although he did not give any specific reason for his low-key showing and his abandon

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Evans' teammate Philippe Gilbert, meanwhile, has just finished his time trial, clocking a discreet time of 11:11 for 64th place. It will be interesting to see how the Belgian performs at Milan-San Remo at the weekend. Prior to the removal of the Pompeiana, the race was one of Gilbert's key spring targets, but one wonders if in its absence his thoughts are already firmly on the Ardennes classics.

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Rigoberto Uran crosses the line 33 seconds down on Malori, while Peter Sagan comes home with the 18th best time to date, 39 seconds off the pace.

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Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) is in the opening kilometre of his effort and quickly settles into his aerodynamic position.

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Kwiatkowski, lest we forget, beat Malori into second place over 13.6km in the stage 3 time trial at the Volta ao Algarve last month, and entered Tirreno-Adriatico in a rich vein of form after landing an astonishing win at Strade Bianche.

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Adriano Malori's face creases into a smile - Michal Kwiatkowski is 14 seconds down at the midway point.

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"I won't trust it until he's crossed the finish line," Malori tells RAI. "Winning today would be a dream. My objective for the year is to get closer to the big guns of world time trialling with an aim to winning a medal at the Worlds. It seems like I'm on the right path."

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Kwiatkowski can't get close to Malori's time. The Pole crosses the line with the 7th best time to date, but his 10:35 is 22 seconds down on Malori.

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It seems that only Cancellara and Wiggins managed to cover the second part of the course quicker than Malori, and they only pegged back a second each on the man from Parma.

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Michal Kwiatkowski has declared himself satisfied with his showing this afternoon. "It was a really hard course for me, it didn’t really suit me but I gave it my all as it’s only my second TT of the year as I wanted to see how I felt," Kwiatkowski told RAI on crossing the line. "I wasn’t bad."

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Result of ITT

1 Adriano Malori (Ita) Movistar 0:10:13

2 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek 0:00:06

3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky 0:00:11

4 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 0:00:15

5 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Shimano 0:00:19

6 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:00:20

7 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:22

8 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:23

9 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:24

10 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica Greenedge 0:00:26

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Final GC

 

Final general classification:

1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 25:28:45

2 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:05

3 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:02:14

4 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:39

5 Julian David Arredondo Moreno (Col) Trek Factory Racing 0:02:54

6 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:04

7 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Trek Factory Racing 0:03:09

8 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:03:16

9 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:03:16

10 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Team Sky 0:03:19

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Happy birthday Sparticas :clap:

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Thats it for Tirreno-Adriatico 2014

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