The former Italian time trial champion took advantage of the day’s challenging parcours to his advantage, maintaining a dependable pace to mingle with the main contenders for the general classification contenders at the finish in Tarazona. Cataldo trailed stage winner Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) by 1’41” at the end of the day.

Cataldo’s Colombian team mate Rigoberto Urán crossed the line with the 17th fastest time on the day, an impressive rejoinder after his setback on Monday. That result elevated Uran two spots back up the leaderboard to 13th.

After the stage Sports Director Marcus Ljungqvist praised the rides of Uran and Cataldo on the windswept TT, and reflected on an invaluable learning experience for Sergio Henao.

“We saw some good rides from the team today," he said on the Sky website. "It was good to see Rigo back on it after a tough day on Monday. He was happy with that too as you always want to know where your level is after something like that. Of course fifth for Dario was a really good effort. There was a lot of wind around on course, with a headwind and then crosswinds, so coming off the climb was quite dangerous. But we stayed safe which is the main thing.

“Sergio was hoping for more with his ride today. We’ll stick to the plan and we’ll help Sergio to gain the experience of being team leader. It’s all part of his development and we know the talent he has.”

Dario Cataldo was pleased with his performance despite being caught by an in-form Cancellara:

“My race food was a gel that I squeezed inside my skin suit on my arm but it fell off on the cobblestones right after the start, so I felt a bit hungerflat. Fabian Cancellara caught me pretty quickly. I tried to keep up with his rhythm uphill but in the downhill he was flying. However, I had good feelings. I did a good stage.”