Benat Intxausti (Movistar) was one of the big winners on a very dramatic day in the Giro d'Italia. With Luca Paolini (Katusha) struggling in the final and Rigoberto Uran (Sky) working as a domestique for his suffering leader Bradley Wiggins, the Spaniard found himself in the maglia rosa at the end of a very hard stage in harsh weather conditions. Despite his strength as a time triallist the Movistar captain, however, believes that it will difficult to defend the lead in tomorrow's race against the clock.

All the way since Movistar's formidable second place in Sunday's team time trial in the Giro d'Italia, the team's GC leader Benat Intxausti has been well-placed in the overall. However, he has not been given much attention until he suddenly emerged as the new wearer of the maglia rosa at the end of today's dramatic stage.

While leader Luca Paolini was unable to keep up with the best in the very hard final, second-placed Rigobert Uran was forced to give up his position in the front group and drop back to help his team leader Bradley Wiggins who was struggling on the wet descents. As a consequence Intxausti who had started the day third overall suddenly found himself as the overall leader with a 5 second gap on second-placed Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).

Unsurprisingly, the Spaniard was overjoyed at his biggest feat as a professional cyclist.

"I'm super happy," he said."This tastes a bit different from a real victory, but it's really important because grabbing the leader's jersey in a Grand Tour is something unique. It's the reward for so many years of work, for all the work I did myself as well as the team, because all my team-mate did a superb work."

The final of the stage was very chaotic with constant attacks and multiple falls on the wet roads and it was almost impossible to keep track on the location of the different riders. As a consequence, Intxausti only realized late in the race that he was in a position to take the coveted leader's jersey.

"The finale was really hard because of the rain," he said. "Nibali attacked and then crashed, I didn't know really well is Urán was behind, but I did know Paolini had been dropped. At the end, I saw I could take the lead, but then there were some bonus seconds at the finish and I didn't believe it until I got confirmed after crossing the line. It's a joy different from the one you get by winning a race, but I did enjoy quite a lot with this maglia rosa."

“We knew it was a complicated stage because of the terrain, and in the end it became a real battle with Vini Fantini and Astana, with Nibali, making the racing. Paolini found the going hard, Urán had to work for Wiggins, so I took my opportunity.”

Intxausti's success is partly build on his own ability to stay with the best on the climbs, partly on the Movistar's team strong performance in the team time trial. The Spaniard was quick to praise his team for their role in his moment of glory.

“I dedicate this Maglia Rosa to my team," he said. "The team time trial went very well for us, and since then, they’ve been working hard for my benefit. I dedicate it to my family and friends, to those who were with me in moments difficult.”

Intxausti has shown multiple times that he is a formidable stage race rider. He has been on the podium in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and last year he was about to take a top 10 in the Giro until illness hit him hard in the final week of racing. He finally cracked the top 10 in last year's Vuelta despite working in the service of Alejandro Valverde.

Despite his position of race leader he keeps his feet on the ground and remains modest about his ambitions.

"For me, this is a big achievement due to all that I had to take to come here," he said. "The goal was getting pink at the team time trial and we came really close, but we made it maybe in the least awaited day. This won't change my goals and we will race the same way, trying to get a stage win and reaching as high as possible overall."

His jersey defence will get a tough start in tomorrow's mammoth 54,8km time trial. Intxausti is, however, no slouch in the race against the clock and in April he proved his abilities by finishing 3rd in the individual discipline in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. Tomorrow's technical, hilly course should suit the Spaniard well but he remains cautious as the length of the stage takes him into unknown territory.

“I’ve done OK in time trials in the past, but I’ve never really raced a time trial so long," he said. "I rode a 45km time trial at the Vuelta once, but not really racing it. There are much better specialists here than I am: Wiggins, Nibali, Hesjedal, Evans, for a start. If I keep the Maglia Rosa, then good. But even if I lose it, I’ll still be doing my best.”

Starting at 14.15 you can follow the action from the time trial on CyclingQuotes.com/live.