Today's highly anticipated battle in the Italian mountains has been cancelled but that does not mean that nothing happens in the cycling world. The riders in the Tour of Belgium prepare right now to tackle one of the race's crucial stages, the 15km time trial around Beveren. With both Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara on the start line, we face a clash of the titans, and you can compensate for the cancelled Giro stage by following that battle on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

The Tour of Belgium is traditionally held in the Giro's third week and naturally it is somewhat overshadowed by the Italian race. That is, however, a shame as it is a fantastic race that includes all the elements that characterize racing in one of cycling's hotbeds. The first stage - won by Andre Greipel - was a flat one with high risks of crosswinds along the coast while yesterday's 2nd stage - also won by Greipel - was a mini Tour of Flanders. Today the riders face a 15km flat time trial before the weekend offers to consecutive stages in the Ardennes - the last one including three ascents of the famous Col de la Redoute.

Hence, it is no surprise that many of the biggest classics stars use the race as their first competition after a hard spring campaign. Tom Boonen, Philippe Gilbert, Björn Leukemans, Fabian Cancellara, Niki Terpstra, Greg Van Avermaet, Stijn Devolder, Jurgen Roelandts, Jelle Vanendert, Lars Boom and Sep Vanmarcke are just some of the one-day specialists who battle in Belgium right now. They mix it up with stage race riders like Tony Martin, Andreas Klöden, Maxime Monfort, Wouter Poels, Luis Leon Sanchez and Simon Spilak to form a very strong field in Belgium.

Last year Tony Martin laid the foundations for his overall victory with a win in the time trial and the German world champion is ready to once again crush the opposition as he has done it on every possible occasion this year - with the exception of the short mountain prologue in the Tour de Romandie. However, the final stages in the Ardennes are harder than last year, and there is little doubt that the German will try to get as big an advantage over his rivals ahead of the battles on the Belgian climbs. He is up against Fabian Cancellara, but unlike Martin who has targeted overall victory in the race, the Swiss only uses the race as a calm return to competition, and it would be a big surprise if he is able to challenge the German time trial machine today.

Starting at 13.45 you can follow the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.