Tirreno-Adriatico 2011: Stage 7

Tirreno-Adriatico winds up today with a 9.3km seaside individual time trial.

Welcome to the final stage of this year's Tirreno-Adriatico.  Things are closing up with a relatively short time trial. Will we see Cadel Evans take the overall title when the day is done?

As expected, Fabian Cancellara of Leopard Trek has rocketed to the lead, with a time of 10:33.

The course today could probably best be described as flat.  Yes, that sounds about right.  Flat.  Very.

The stage takes place in San Benedetto del Tronto, right on the coast.  The riders take off with the water on their left for about 4.9km, turn around, and come back. 

Meanwhile, Lampre's Adriano Malori moves into third place only 19 seconds slower than Cancellara.

Olivier Kaisen of Omega Pharma-Lotto was the first one off today, at 13:15 CET.  He put in a time of 11:47.   That was soon topped by Rabobank's Rick Flens with a best time of 10:53.

Cancellara was one of the favourites, seeing as how he is umpty-ump times World Time Trial Champion.  Who so far this season hasn't won anything at all.  In fact, the whole Leopard Trek team has gotten off to a rather slower start than expected, with only young German Dominic Klemme bringing in a victory.

As usual, the first 138 riders went off at one minute intervals.  The last 10 will go off at two-minute intervals.

And who are those last ten, you ask? What a coincidence, we happen to know the answer to that question!

Gregory Rast (RadioShack) and Andrea Noe (Farnese) come in at just about the same time, which means that Rast made a minute good on the elderly Italian.

Another Rabobanker heads to the finish line, Wynants, but he comes in currently in 20th place.

Sky's Mathew Hayman doesn't make the top ten either.   He is now 30th.

The overall leader here is of course Cadel Evans of BMC Racing Team, who won yesterday's stage.  He took the lead the day before, though.

Evans has a lead of nine seconds over Michele Scarponi of Lampre, with Ivan Basso (Liquigas) back in third place at 12 seconds.

Once again we have two riders coming in more or less together, Francisco Ventoso Alberdi of Movistar and Oscar Gatto of Farnese.

Andy Schleck of Leopard Trek is on the course now.

Scarponi leads the points classification, tied with 26 points with Garmin-Cervelo's Tyler Farrar.  Third is Evans, with 20 points.

We try not to predict who will win what, but we will go out on a limb and say that Davide Malacarne of Quickstep will take home the mountain title.  He was leading the ranking coming into today's stage, and there's not even a bump on the road today which one could under any circumstances describe as a climb.

Robert Gesink (Rabobank) looks to have a lock on the best young rider ranking, leading by 1:13 over Simon Clarke of Astana, with Wout Poels (Vacansoleil) third.

And coming into today's final stage, Liquigas was the best team, followed by HTC-Highroad and Euskaltel-Euskadi.

That's it for me today, folks.  I am leaving you in the capable hands of Stephen Farrand, who will take you through to the end of the stage and the race!

Hello and welcome to the final part of the 9.3km time trial. Only 20 riders have still to finish.

George Hincapie (BMC) has set a time of 11:17.

He played a key role yesterday in helping Evans extend his overall race lead.

Hincapie seems on great form and could be a contender in Saturday's Milan-San Remo. 

Peter Velits (HTC-Highroad) sets off for his 9.3km blast along the Adratic coast.

David Arroyo (Movistar) sets a time of 12:04.

The riders are riding at one minute intervals but that will switch to every two minutes for the final ten starters. 

2010 winner Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone) has justed started his time trial.

If you've only recently joined us, it will be no surprise to know that Fabian Cancellara has the fastest time so far. The world time trial champion set a time of 10:33, beating Lars Boom (Rabobank) by nine seconds.

Danilo Di Luca (Katusha) has set off too. Marco Pinotti (HTC-Highroad) will start after him.

Dmitriy Muravyev (RadioShack) sets a time of 11:08.

He'll be pleased to know he's secured a place in the RadioShack team for Milan-San Remo that has been built around Robbie McEwen. 

Wout Poels (Vacansoleil) sets a time of 11:27.

Pinotti looks good and is pushing round a huge gear.

Here's Simon Clarke (Astana). He sets a time of 11:32 and so should secure second overall in the young rider competition behind Robert Gesink. 

Garzelli is pretty fast but is out of the top 20. He sets a time of 11: 19.

Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli) is a little faster, with a time of 11:12.

Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharam-Lotto) has started his time trial but he doesn't look to be taking it too seriously. He will now be focused on Milan-San Remo. 

Danilo Di Luca sets a time of 11:49.

Pinotti is not as fast as Cancellara. He seems a little over geared and sets a time of 10:57. That is sixth fastest so far.

Nibali is off and looks fast in his excellent time trial position.

Thomas Lovkvist (Team Sky) stops the clock in 11:16.

Michele Scarponi strts his time trial wearig the red points jersey. He needs to pull back nine seconds on Cadel Evans (BMC) to win overall. 

Cadel Evans (BMC) sets off wearing the sky blue race leader's jersey. In less than 11 minutes we'll know if he's won this year's 'Race of the Two Seas'.

Meanwhile Philippe Gilbert sets a time of 11:28. 

Evans dives through the first corner. He's fast right from the start.

Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) sets a time of 11:30. Surprisingly he's not riding Milan-San Remo despite his excellent form. He's never liked the Classicissima.

Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) is still the fastest and is calmly waiting near the finish.

Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) is out of the top ten and sets a time of 11:13.

Gesink will be the next to finish.

Gesink sets a time of 11:00 exactly.

Here comes Ivan Basso.

He is 12 seconds down on Evans and so will need a super fast time trial.

He's already slower than Cancellara and is slower than Gesink. He stops the clock in a time of 11: 16.

Scarponi will be the be next to finish but is unlikely to threaten Evans.

Scarponi sets a time of 11:10.

To secure victory, Evans has to finish inside 11:19.

Evans won't beat Cancellara but it looks like he's gonig to win.

Evans sets a time of 11:04 and so secures overall victory. 

According to our calculations, Gesink should be second overall, with Scarpoin slipping to third place.

Gesink is second overall at 11 seconds, with Scarponi third at 15 seconds.

Ivan Basso is fourth at 24 seconds and teammate Nibali is fifth at 30 seconds.

Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) proved he is the fastest time trialist in the world, winning the 9.3km time trial in a time of 10:33. 

Lars Boom (Rabobsnk) was second at 9 seconds, with Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD) third at 19 seconds.

The Italian coast guard has recovered the winner's trident trophy from the bottom of the Adriatic sea which will now be given to Evans. 

Cadel Evans (BMC) pulls on the winner's sky blue jersey, sprays the spumante and raises the special trident prize. He is the winner of the 2011 'Race of the two Seas."

That's all from our live coverage from Tirreno-Adriatico. We'll be back for special coverage of Saturday's Milan-San Remo.

Stage result:

1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Leopard Trek 0:10:33
2 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:09
3 Adriano Malori (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:00:18
4 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:20
5 Bert Grabsch (Ger) HTC-Highroad 0:00:22
6 Marco Pinotti (Ita) HTC-Highroad 0:00:24
7 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Team RadioShack
8 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi