Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) ended Tirreno-Adriatico by winning his first time trial of the 2015 season, as Nairo Quintana did enough to hold onto the blue jersey.
Cancellara avenged his defeat to Adriano Malori in the prologue, prevailing against the clock on wet, bumpy roads to record his first time trial win since the Swiss national championships and his first at WorldTour level since the 2013 Vuelta a Espana.
Quintana, meanwhile, did enough to maintain his overall lead and seal the blue jersey, while Britain’s Steve Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka) proved fastest of the overall top ten to climb the rankings
Of the early starters on the wet course, former Australian time trial champion Michael Hepburn (Orica-GreenEDGE) was the fastest, setting a time of 11.39 which was then beaten by mere milliseconds by Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff-Saxo).
Prologue winner Adriano Malori (Movistar), who was victorious on the same course 12 months earlier, was the main focus of attention for his home fans however.
The Italian champion encountered some difficulty on one of the few left-hand bends but, pushing a big gear, he claimed the hot seat by shaving 12 seconds off the benchmark.
Cancellara, by contrast, continued his recent preference for higher cadence rather than a big gear and he was just a second behind Malori at the lone time check after the speedbump-laden opening section.
With the chance to gain momentum on the second half of the course, though, Cancellara needed no second invite – catching and passing his minute man before storming into the stage lead in 11.23.
Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), by contrast, clearly had no desire other than to finish the stage, not matching anywhere close to the power he put out during the prologue and mistiming his effort to the point he was 2’59” slower than Cancellara.
Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) was another major contender for the stage, flying out of the starting ramp and adopting a hugely aggressive position to go fastest at the first time check.
When his effort faded in the second-half, however, attention turned instead to the GC men with Cummings climbing the overall standings with a solid effort of 11.46.
That was enough to leapfrog Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and compatriot Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEDGE) but Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) was just one second fast enough to stay above the Liverpool-born man.
Quintana finished in a risk-free 12.18, meanwhile, to seal overall victory.
Tirreno-Adriatico 2015: stage seven (ITT) – result
1) Fabian Cancellara (SUI) – Trek Factory Racing – 11.23
2) Adriano Malori (ITA) – Movistar +4”
3) Vasil Kiryienka (BLR) – Team Sky +9”
4) Jonathan Castroviejo (ESP) – Movistar +12”
5) Maciej Bodnar (POL) – Tinkoff-Saxo +16”
6) Michael Hepburn (AUS) – Orica-GreenEDGE – ST
7) Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU) – Cannondale-Garmin +17”
8) Steve Cummings (GBR) – MTN-Qhubeka +23”
9) Andrey Amador (CRC) – Movistar +25”
10) Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) – MTN-Qhubeka +26”
General classification
1) Nairo Quintana (COL) – Movistar – 25.11.16hrs
2) Bauke Mollema (NED) – Trek Factory Racing +18”
3) Rigoberto Uran (COL) – Etixx-QuickStep +31”
4) Thibaut Pinot (FRA) – FDJ +35”
5) Alberto Contador (ESP) – Tinkoff-Saxo +39”
6) Steve Cummings (GBR) – MTN-Qhubeka +40”
7) Wout Poels (NED) – Team Sky +56”
8) Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale +59”
9) Adam Yates (GBR) – Orica-GreenEDGE +1.09
10) Roman Kreuziger (CZE) – Tinkoff-Saxo +1.11
