For Katusha, today's Giro d'Italia time trial was mostly a chance to save energy but for Maxim Belkov and Vladimir Gusev it was an important test of condition. However, the two Russian riders were both hit by lots of bad luck.

A rainy individual time trial brought forth an epic ride by Rigoberto Uran to move him into the race lead, bumping former leader Cadel Evans into second place by 37-seconds. For some Team Katusha riders it was a day to test form against the clock but take no risks on the wet roads of northern Italy.

Maxim Belkov performed best for Katusha at 31st place. On the stage the former European Time Trial champion wanted to evaluate his form at this point in the season:

“It was bad luck for me as it started to rain hard just when I left the start house. Then after only 150 meters I got a flat tire and the director’s car could not get to me immediately so I lost a lot of time right at the beginning. After that you are already mentally behind and it’s hard to catch up.”

Team rider Vladimir Gusev originally caught the two riders who started one- and two-minutes ahead of him, but he crashed going uphill into a wet corner. Once he got going, he managed to catch them again….such were the adventures in today’s very tough and demanding time trial.

With many, many mountains still to come plus an uphill time trial in the last week, there is still everything to play for in the 97th Giro d’Italia. Stage 13 is 157 km of up and down terrain, beginning in Fossano and ending in Rivarolo Canavese.