Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) proved to the rest of the Giro peloton that he is by far the strongest rider in the race by crushing the opposition in today's tough mountain time trial. He now leads the Cadel Evans (BMC) by 4.02 and the Italian admits that he has taken a major step towards his first victory in his home grand tour.

Vincenzo Nibali has given plenty of signs of his superiority in this year's Giro d'Italia but up until today he had not firmly stamped his authority on the race by distancing all of his rivals in the mountains. That all changed today when he won the mountain time trial from Mori to Polsa in a dominant fashion by finishing no less than 58 seconds faster than Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel).

The Italian already showed what was in store at the intermediate check as he lowered the best time set by Michele Scarponi (Lampre) by no less than 30 seconds and from then on he just kept extending his advantage all the way to the top. He now leads Cadel Evans by 4.02 while Rigoberto Uran (Sky) is a further 10 seconds adrift.

Until now the Italian has been rather cautious in his assessment of his chances of taking the overall win, but after today's stage he showed enormous confidence. Despite two tough mountain stages - of which the first one has already been altered due to bad weather - Nibali feels confident that he has what it takes to defend his race lead.

“Today I’ve taken another major step towards winning the Giro," he said. "I hope the weather remains good. Whether or not we can ride the mountains stages as planned, changes little. I ‘m in good shape anyway. If the stages are taken out, with the team, we can control the race better. My shape is what it is. I’ve demonstrated that again today. So I’m relaxed.”

Journalists were curious to find out whether the race leader would attempt to win one of the two legendary stages in the Dolomites on Friday and Sunday but the Astana leader played down expectations and made clear that the overall win is the most important thing.

“First I have to keep the vantage I have," he said. "With the advantage I gained today, I can defend it better with the team. Then there’s the weather. It remains a mystery. Even today, the stage started in sunshine and ended in the rain.”

While Nibali shone, Cadel Evans was the day's big loser. The Australian was expected to battle the Italian for the stage win but instead he finished a modest 25th no less than 2.36 behind. Nibali admitted that he had expected more from the 2011 Tour winner but used the sight of the Australian up the road to motivate himself.

“Cadel has been well hidden in the group for a few days, so I didn’t know what his condition was," he said. "Today, I feared he might do a better ride, but he was my reference point in today’s stage, so when I saw him ahead of me in the final kilometres, I pushed even harder.”

Bad weather has forced the organizers to change the itinerary of tomorrow's stage. Fortunately, today's stage could be carried out without alterations but the weather gods did not show the riders any mercy. While the early riders enjoyed plenty of sunshine, rain started to fall when the GC riders hit the road.

The wet roads affected Nibali's performance.

“My tyre pressure was very high, so I had to be very careful on the corners," he said. "I could feel it slipping on the corners."

If Nibali wins the Giro, it will be the first home win since Ivan Basso took home the 2010 edition of the race (Scarponi has inherited the 2011 win from Alberto Contador but was not celebrated on the final podium in Milan that year). Nibali feels that his and fellow Sicilian Giovanni Visconti's success has contributed to a growing awareness of cycling in the country which has struggled to produce success at the same high rate as they have previously done.

“This Giro has been good to Italy, and good for the South of Italy, with Visconti’s stage wins," he said. "People are more and more passionate about cycling. Over the last three stages, the crowds have been very big. Even today, despite the rain, there were plenty of people at the roadside. Perhaps this Giro has relaunched Italian cycling. That’s what we all wanted. I think we’re on the right road.”

Nibali will try to defend the modified stage to Val Martello tomorrow and despite the alterations it will be a tough day in the saddle. Starting at 12.15 you can follow the entire stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.