Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack) proved that he is still one of the best time triallists in the world when he beat world champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) in the only race against the clock in this year's Vuelta a Espana. The Swiss put 37 seconds into his arch rival on the hilly course while Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) performed well to take 4th and so move himself back into the leader's jersey.

Fabian Cancellara may have put less emphasis on the time trials in recent years but he is still at the top of his game when it comes to the lone fight against the clock. Today he defeated an injury-free Tony Martin in a long time trial for the first time since the 2010 world championships when he crushed the opposition in the only time trial of this year's Vuelta a Espana.

Martin appeared to be destined to win the stage when he crossed the line, having opened up massive time gaps on the hilly 38,8km in Tarazona. However, Cancellara confirmed the impression he had given in recent days when he beat his rival by a massive 37 seconds.

Already at the first time check, Cancellara was 14 seconds faster than the world champion and he kept increasing his lead all the way to the finish. At the second check, he had added 20 seconds to his lead before bolstering it even further on the downhill run towards the finish line.

The defeat marks Martin's third in a time trial this season following the Tour de Romandie mountain prologue and the final hilly time trial of the Tour de France. Until now Cancelllara had been undecided about his participation in the world championships time trial but today's performance may be enough to convince him to give it a go. In Florence, he will also have to contend with Bradley Wiggins.

The GC was reshuffled when Vincenzo Nibali did a good ride to finish 4th on the stage. Race leader Chris Horner (Radioshack) could only manage 20th, losing 1.29 to his rival, and so Nibali is back in the leader's jersey for the third time in this year's race.

He now leads Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) by 33 seconds, the Irishman having delivered a fantastic performance to take 6th on the stage. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) had his usual amount of bad luck when he punctured along the way and had to stop get a wheel change. He still did a splendid ride to finish 7th and now finds himself in 3rd on GC, 13 seconds behind Nibali and equal on time with Horner.

The positive surprise of the day was Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r). Despite his tiny build, the Italian is no bad time triallist but for him to finish 3rd behind Cancellara and Martin was highly unexpected. He now finds himself in 6th on GC.

Katusha had a bad day as Joaquim Rodriguez and Daniel Moreno could only manage 21st and 34th respectively. They dropped to 6th and 10th on GC respectively and now finds themselves more than 2.30 off the race lead.

Climbers Ivan Basso (Cannondale), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) all performed well to defend their positions in the top 10 on a course that suited them well. In general, the top position were dominated by GC riders with Cancellara and Martin being the only real specialists to make it into the top 10.

Nibali now takes his leader's jersey into tomorrow's 12th stage in Western Spain. The 164,2km stage is mostly flat, finishes on the coast and is expected to put the sprinters back into the spotlight.

Starting at 15.00 CEST you can follow the stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

A hilly course

The 38,8km course in Tarrazona mostly consisted of a gentle category 3 climb and its subsequent non-technical descent and was expected to give the climbers a chance to limit their losses in their feared discipline. First down the ramp was Matteo Bono (Lampre-Merida) but it was Tom Peterson (Argos-Shimano) who set the first time that was allowed to stand for a little while.

Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel) briefly knocked him out of the hot seat but the first real mark was set by time trial specialist Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil). The Dutch champion had plenty of time to enjoy his position in the hot seat, seeing off challenges from teammate Wout Poels, Luca Dodi (Lampre) and Juan Manuel Garate (Belkin).

Grivko in the lead

His first real challenger was, however, Andriy Grivko (Astana) who did a strong ride up the climb to lower the mark by 10 seconds. Marco Pinotti (BMC)  had been faster at both time checks but at the finish, the Italian missed the lead by just 1 second.

However, that was no disaster as Martin had completely crushed the opposition and when he crossed the line, he had been a massive 2.52 faster than Grivko. He faced a long wait and could see is time stand firm against Jan Barta (NetApp) who moved into 2nd and Vasil Kiryienka (Sky).

Cancellara crushes the opposition

When Cancellara beat him at all time checks, he knew that he wouldn't win the stage and the Swiss could position himself comfortably in the hot seat. Dario Cataldo (Sky) who had been overtaken by Cancellara, managed to keep up with him for some time and moved into 3rd as a consequence.

Stef Clement (Belkin) set the 4th best time as the last specialist while the GC riders had now started their rides. Before they got to the finish, Luis-Leon Sanchez (Belkin) confirmed his good condition by setting the 6th best time while Jerome Coppel (Cofidis) did even better to move into the provisional 4th.

Pozzovivo creates a surprise

The first good ride from a GC rider was delivered by Samuel Sanchez whose time was ultimately good enough for 10th. Rigoberto Uran (Sky), Tanel Kangert (Astana) and Leopold König (NetApp) were not too far behind but the real surprise was delivered by Pozzovivo who set the third best time.

Majka, Pinot and Basso all moved into the top 20 while Moreno and Rodriguez had disappointing rides. Roche and Valverde had been almost equal at all time checks and both did well to make it into the top 10. Nibali had not been impressive on the climbs but crossed the line in a time that was just 1 second slower than Pozzovivo's, having done an impressive descent.

All eyes were now on Horner but it was evident that he wasn't going to defend his jersey. The  American kept losing time throughout the entire course, ultimately finishing 20th and dropping to 4th on GC,

Result:

1 Fabian Cancellara - Radioshack-Leopard 51.00 
2 Tony Martin - Omega Pharma-QuickStep 0.37 
3 Dominico Pozzovivo - AG2r 1.24
4 Vincenzo Nibali - Astana 1.25
5 Dario Cataldo - Sky 1.41 
6 Nicolas Roche - Team Saxo-Tinkoff 1.48
7 Alejandro Valverde - Movistar 1.52
8 Jerome Coppel - Cofidis 1.52 
9 Janez Brajkovic - Astana 1.53
10 Samuel Sanchez - Euskatel-Euskadi 2.13

General classification:

1 Vincenzo Nibali - Astana 41.22.22
2 Nicolas Roche - Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0.33
3 Alejandro Valverde - Movistar 0.46
4 Chris Horner - Radioshack-Leopard 0.46
5 Joaquim Rodriguez - Katusha 2.33
6 Dominico Pozzovivo - AG2r 2.44
7 Ivan Basso - Cannondale 2.55
8 Tibaut Pinot - FDJ.fr 3.35
9 Rafal Majka - Team Saxo-Tinkoff 3.46
10 Daniel Moreno - Katusha 3.53

Points classification:

1. Daniel Moreno 97

2. Alejandro Valverde 90

3. Nicolas Roche 87

4. Fabian Cancellara 61

5. Joaquim Rodriguez 61

Mountains classification:

1. Chris Horner 18

2. Nicolas Roche 15

3. Leopold König 12

4. Daniel Moreno 12

5. Nicolas Edet 11

Combination classification:

1. Nicolas Roche 7

2. Chris Horner 11

3. Alejandro Valverde 13

4. Vincenzo Nibali 15

5. Daniel Moreno 15

Teams classification:

1. Astana 129.19.33

2. Saxo-Tinkoff +0.33

3. Movistar +2.57

4. Euskaltel +8.56

5. Katusha +11.18