Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) left no doubt as to who is the world's best TT rider at the moment as he crushed the opposition in the final time trial of this year's Tirreno-Adriatico. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) held on to his comfortable lead to take his second overall victory in a row ahead of Chris Froome (Sky) while Alberto Contador (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) took the final podium place with the narrowest of margins.

With his dominant performance in the time trial in Volta ao Algarve, all indications are that world TT champion Tony Martin is back to his best after a disappointing 2012 season. If anyone still had any doubts prior to today's 9,2 km final time trial of Tirreno-Adriatico, they must have been firmly out to rest.

On the traditional completely flat out-and-back course along the coast in San Benedetto del Tronto, no one was even close to the German powerhouse. With a time of 10.26, he was 5 seconds clear of former Italian TT champion Adriano Malori (Lampre-Merida) who ended up 2nd. The big surprise was the third place of Andrey Amador (Movistar) who used an impressive time trial to move into 8th in the GC.

Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack) win the exact same time trial in 2011 and 2012. The former world champion is, however, not his former self in the time trials and ended up a disappointing 4th. Another blow to the Swiss was the fact that the winning time of Martin was 8 seconds faster than Cancellara's best time on the course.

As expected the overall victory of Vincenzo Nibali was never in doubt. He entered the time trial 34 seconds ahead of Chris Froome (Sky), and even if the Brit put in a strong performance with a 6th place, it was not enough to deny the "shark from Messina" his second victory in a row.

The battle for final podium place was an intense one. Joaquin Rodriguez entered the race 11 seconds ahead of Alberto Contador with strong time triallist Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) a further 10 seconds in arrears. Contador narrowly held of Kwiatkowski by 1 second despite a strong performance by the Polish rider, and Rodriguez had to finish in a time of 11.06 to keep his podium place. As he passed the finish line, the clock stopped at 11.08, and so Rodriguez slipped to 5th, just 1 second behind Kwiatkowski and 2 behind Contador. Once again the time trial was the Katusha rider's undoing.

With Tirreno-Adriatico over, the cycling world now focuses all its attention on Milan-Sanremo which kicks off the classics season on Sunday.

Result

1 Tony Martin - Omega Pharma-Quick Step 10.25
2 Adriano Malori - Lampre-Merida 0.06
3 Andrey Amador - Movistar Team 0.10
4 Fabian Cancellara - RadioShack-Leopard 0.12
5 Jonathan Castroviejo - Movistar Team 0.14
6 Chris Froome - Sky 0.15
7 Hayden Roulston - RadioShack-Leopard 0.20
8 Michal Kwiatkowski - Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0.21
9 Dario Cataldo - Sky 0.23
10 Alex Dowsett - Movistar Team 0.23
 

General classification

1 Vincenzo Nibali - Astana 28.08.17
2 Chris Froome - Sky 0.23
3 Alberto Contador - Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0.52
4 Michal Kwiatkowski - Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0.53
5 Joaquim Rodríguez - Katusha 0.54
6 Chris Horner - RadioShack-Leopard 1.21
7 Mauro Santambrogio - Vini Vantini 2.03
8 Andrey Amador - Movistar Team 2.42
9 Przemyslaw Niemiec - Lampre-Merida 3.19
10 Wout Poels - Vacansoleil-DCM 3.35