Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) clinched overall victory in the Tirreno-Adriatico seven-day stage race yesterday. In a short, fast individual time trial along the Adriatic coast, Nibali finished the 9.2 km in 10:51, fast enough for 12th place behind stage winner and world time trial champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).

The result allowed Nibali to maintain his overall lead in the WorldTour stage race by a margin of 23 seconds from Chris Froome (Sky), and thus take the leader's jersey. His victory on Tuesday is Nibali's second consecutive title as the winner of "The Race between Two Seas".

"This victory, the second one, is sweeter, because it's better,” Nibali said on the Astana website. “Against a podium like this, with the calibre of riders who lined up here, it's definitely better," a triumphant Nibali stated after the awards ceremony in San Benedetto del Tronto.

Significant improvements in TT

The individual time trial on Tuesday was flat with little wind, but left no room for error and has been an object of intense focus for Nibali and a field of experts at the Astana team helping him to improve in the discipline that has previously been somewhat of an Achilles’ heel for the Sicilian rider.

This gives cause for optimism as Nibali plans ahead for the big objective of the season, the Giro d’Italia. "The team at Specialized Racing has been very active in finding out the right fit and feel for me on the time trial bike, and the Shiv is very fast and very stiff. We have seen the progress this year at the time trial in Argentina and again today, and I think that as we go on to the Giro we can look for more ways to attack each individual time trial with a very good plan for success," Nibali said.