Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) sealed his second consecutive overall win at Tirreno-Adriatico with a solid final day time-trial that was enough to keep second placed Chris Froome (Sky) at bay.
World time trial champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) won the
stage with a commanding ride and although Froome finished sixth to beat Nibali on the day, his 11 second margin wasn't enough and it was the Sicilian rider who
took home the race-winner's trident.
Nibali had taken over the race lead from Froome after a daring ambush in the hammering rain and relentless climbs of yesterday's penultimate stage, requiring the Sky rider to put 34 seconds into his rival over just 9.2km of flat time-trial today.
That task looked almost impossible, barring rider error or mechanical mishap, and so it proved, with Nibali successfully negotiating the out-and-back course and laying down a key marker to his rivals ahead of the Giro d'Italia.
British time-trial champion Alex Dowsett (Movistar) clocked an impressive tenth place, 23 seconds behind Martin, while Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) leapfrogged Joaquin Rodriguez to make it into the overall podium in third.
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Results Tirreno-Adriatico 2013, stage seven: San Benedetto del Tronto, 9.2km TT 1. Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-Quickstep in 10-25
2. Adriano Malori (Ita) Lampre-Merida at 6 secs
3. Andrey Amador (Crc) Movistar at 10 secs
4. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Radioshack-Leopard at 12 secs
5. Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar at 14 secs
6. Chris Froome (GBr) Sky at 15 secs
7. Hayden Roulston (Nzl) Radioshack-Leopard at 20 secs
8. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quickstep at 21 secs
9. Dario Cataldo (Ita) Sky at 23 secs
10. Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar s.t.
Others
12. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana at 26 secs
Overall classification 1. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana in 28-08-17
2. Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky at 23secs
3. Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo-Tinkoff at 52 secs
4. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step at 53 secs
5. Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha at 54 secs
6. Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack-Leopard at 1-21
7. Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia at 2-03
8. Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar at 2-42
9. Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida at 3-19
10. Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM at 3-35
Stage winner Tony Martin
Vincenzo Nibali
Chris Froome (second), Vincenzo Nibali (winner) and Alberto Contador (third)
Related links
Tirreno-Adriatico 2013: Coverage index
Tirreno-Adriatico 2013
: Race preview and information
Tirreno-Adriatico 2013: Start list
Tirreno-Adriatico 2013: Who will win?
Tirreno-Adriatico 2013: The Big Preview
Tirreno-Adriatico 2013
: Stage reports
Stage six: Froome loses lead to Nibali
Stage five: Froome takes Tirreno lead
Stage four: Froome wins; Kwiatkowski leads
Stage three: Sagan beats Cavendish and Greipel
Stage two: Goss wins on wet stage
Stage one: Mark Cavendish leads Tirreno with team time trial win
Tirreno-Adriatico 2013
: Photo galleries
Stage seven photo gallery
Stage six photo gallery
Stage two photo gallery
Stage one TTT photo gallery
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