World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara set up overall victory at Tirreno-Adriatico with a dominant ride in the 26km time trial that gave him a 16 second overall lead with just two stages remaining.
Cancellara set a time of 33 minutes 41 seconds, beating the USA?s David Zabriskie by 22 seconds and Sweden?s Thomas Lovkvist by 54 seconds.
Cancellara now leads Italy?s Enrico Gasparotto by 16 seconds in the overall standings, with Lovkvist third at 40 seconds. Previous leader Niklas Axelsson of Sweden lost more than two minutes to Cancellara and so blew any chance of overall victory.
Germany?s Linus Gerdemann also lost time after crashing in the final kilometre of the time trial. He hit a curb, injuring his left knee, left side and chin. He finished ninth in the time trial but was taken to hospital after the finish.
Cancellara had told Cycling Weekly that he was not focused on overall victory before the start of the Tirreno-Adriatico but he impressively limited his losses on Friday?s steep uphill finish and then used his time trial superiority to take the race leader?s blue jersey.
?I?m happy. It?s what I wanted,? Cancellara said after pulling on the blue jersey.
?Hopefully I can hang on to the lead and give myself a nice birthday present on Tuesday, give something back to my team mates and my family for their help.?
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?I?m not a climb and lost some time in the final part of the stage but I?ve shown I?ve been competitive on the other hilly stages of the race and that allowed me to take the race lead.?
?I was careful not to put myself under too much pressure but I really wanted to win and so I gave it everything in the time trial. Now there are only two stages left and so I?ve got a great chance of winning overall. Monday?s stage is hilly but I?ve got a great team who will help me, while Tuesday?s stage should end in a sprint.?
?I?m not at my very best yet because my goals for the first part of the season are the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in early April, but I?m not going to waste my chance of winning Tirreno-Adriatico.?
Monday?s 196km sixth stage is from Civitanova Marche to Castelfidardo. It includes five laps of a hilly circuit but should not cause Cancellara and CSC too many problems.
Founded in 1891, Cycling Weekly and its team of expert journalists brings cyclists in-depth reviews, extensive coverage of both professional and domestic racing, as well as fitness advice and 'brew a cuppa and put your feet up' features. Cycling Weekly serves its audience across a range of platforms, from good old-fashioned print to online journalism, and video.
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