59.6 almost flat km separating the start line in Forli and the finish line at Faenza, with checkpoints after 20km and 40km. A painful day lies ahead for most, but not Taylor Phinney. Already the race leader, and the strongest time triallist in the race - as evidenced by his comfortable Stage 7 victory.
Of his GC rivals, Simon Spilak and Yuri Trofimov were 'closest' to him that day, followed by Angel Madrazo and Markus Fothen.
Damage limitation for them today? It certainly will be so for the climbers with a weaker time trial stat.
First up though are the time trial specialists who don't have the additional ability of climbing to their skill set.
Fastest of them today was Lucas Schädlich, in an improved ride from the previous time trial.
Marcel Kittel had beaten him by 9 seconds that day, but trails him by 14 seconds today.
Nobody else was close to those two. Taking 3rd place at 1'03 is Thomas De Gendt.
Not far behind in 4th is Brian Vandborg, 1'06 down.
And a further second down in 5th is Jesse Sergent.
The Kiwi weaker than the first time trial then, while De Gendt is much improved.
And here are the standings ahead of the final 50 finishers:
1
Lucas Schädlich
1h27'02
2
Marcel Kittel
+ 14
3
Thomas De Gendt
+ 1'03
4
Brian Vandborg
+ 1'06
5
Jesse Sergent
+ 1'07
6
Adrian Malori
+ 1'25
7
Nick Clesen
+ 1'37
8
Dmitriy Gruzdev
+ 1'53
9
Elia Viviani
+ 2'07
10
Morgan Kneisky
+ 2'09
11
Mattia Cattaneo
+ 2'10
12
Pim Ligthart
+ 2'14
13
Gustavo Veloso
+ 2'17
14
Thomas Peterson
+ 2'23
15
Steven Cummings
+ 2'28
16
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
+ 2'35
17
Philipp Walsleben
+ 2'35
18
Jos Van Emden
+ 2'41
19
Kiril Yatsevich
+ 2'41
20
Gediminas Bagdonas
+ 2'44
21
Teodoro Costagli
+ 2'52
22
Joseph Cooper
+ 2'55
23
Matthieu Sprick
+ 3'00
24
Ben Swift
+ 3'06
25
Matea Kvasina
+ 3'14
The first of those 50 was Fabio Duarte, who immediately rode into the Top 10, and 7th place.
40th overall at the start of the day was Kristjan Koren. He was only 3 seconds slower than Schadlich in the earlier time trial.
The Slovenian national champion is much further off today, but is just able to take 3rd place - 1'02 down.
Another national champion, Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy, started strongly to go 4th at the first intermediate sprint - only behind Schadlich, Kittel and Koren.
But he faded, and ultimately took a provisional 7th - 1'21 down. This pushed him below Manuel Lloret, who at 1'08 produced a time to bring himself back into the overall Top 20.
The Spaniard moves ahead of Gianpaolo Caruso, Leopold König and a very slow David López Garcia. The latter finishing almost 8 minutes behind Schadlich.
Staying ahead of Lloret in GC though, and up to 17th, is Thomas Faiers. 1'13 down today, and after his teammate Bernhard Kohl finished further down, the Pendleton's pair are now separated by just 18 seconds overall.
Out on course, there was a new German on top of the leaderboard at the first checkpoint: Markus Fothen
Vincenzo Nibali also started well, and trails Fothen by just 10 seconds at this early stage.
Nobody else went faster at the first checkpoint until the last man to go through there, with Taylor Phinney riding the first 20km as he means to ride the rest.
First Checkpoint:
1
Taylor Phinney
27'25
2
Markus Fothen
+ 35
3
Lucas Schädlich
+ 37
4
Marcel Kittel
+ 38
5
Vincenzo Nibali
+ 45
6
Angel Madrazo
+ 48
7
Kristjan Koren
+ 52
8
Yuri Trofimov
+ 54
9
Simon Spilak
+ 55
10
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
+ 57
15
Peter Velits
+ 1'04
19
Romain Sicard
+ 1'08
21
Nico Keinath
+ 1'09
27
Ryan Eastman
+ 1'22
35
Robert Kiserlovski
+ 1'29
41
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
+ 1'36
42
Riccardo Ricco
+ 1'38
47
Emanuele Sella
+ 1'42
Over the middle 20km, Fothen and Nibali remained the 'best of the rest', keeping 2nd and 5th respectively at the 2nd split point.
Having been 6th in the first time trial, Angel Madrazo continues to enjoy that position so far today.
While Yuri Trofimov is riding slightly worse than the earlier race against the clock.
Second Checkpoint:
1
Taylor Phinney
57'46
2
Markus Fothen
+ 1'08
3
Lucas Schädlich
+ 1'18
4
Marcel Kittel
+ 1'21
5
Vincenzo Nibali
+ 1'29
6
Angel Madrazo
+ 1'40
7
Yuri Trofimov
+ 1'51
8
Simon Spilak
+ 1'54
9
Kristjan Koren
+ 1'57
10
Jesse Sergent
+ 2'06
Over the first 42km of time trial kilometres, Simon Spilak was able to limit his losses to 1'06 on Phinney. But not today. Over the same distance this time, Taylor Phinney has caught him for 2 minutes!
At the current rate, we can expect Phinney to gain almost 2 minutes on Lucas Schadlich. Which is worth bearing in mind as some of the weaker time trialling climbers hit the finish, and have their times compared to the German.
Robert Kiserlovski: + 2'32 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya: + 2'49 Ryan Eastman: + 2'09 Emanuele Sella: +3'02
The latter almost being caught by Peter Velits, who was 1'17 slower than Schadlich.
The next two to finish were within 2 seconds of each other, as Romain Sicard won his mini-battle over Nico Keinath to start - slowly - closing the gap after his costly crash.
But hot on the Dane's tail was Markus Fothen, with a very impressive ride.
He takes the lead - for what will end up being 2nd at the stage finish - beating Schadlich by 15 seconds - and on course to make good gains on most of the riders ranked above him.
Vincenzo Nibali finishes 29 seconds slower than Fothen, as he just sneaks ahead of Marcel Kittel's time in the closing stages.
Next in, and finishing close together are Riccardo Ricco and Yuri Trofimov.
The Italian finishes 2'56 behind Fothen, while the Russian ends up 59 seconds down. Ricco tumbles all the way down to 9th in GC - falling behind Nibali, Fothen, Trofimov, Keinath and Sicard. Trofimov also drops behind Nibali and Fothen as well though - as the UBS rider moves into 4th overall, and the Festina rider climbs up to 5th.
3 to finish, and Angel Madrazo is targeting a move into 2nd overall as he hits the line 44 seconds down on Fothen - needing a gain of 26 on Spilak.
But what he should be more concerned about is the time lost to Taylor Phinney. The stage belongs to the American, who ensure all along that there would be no suspense at the finish today.
He beats Fothen by 1'32, which translates to a 2'17 loss for Madrazo. Phinney will end the day a whopping 3 minutes clear in the battle for the Maglia Rosa.
Simon Spilak ends a disappointing day soon after, 2'38 down. So he has lost 2nd place to Madrazo.
Victory gives Taylor Phinney the lead in the Points classification, while Wikipedia's Teams Classification lead is extended to over 15 minutes.
But credit must go to the rest of the stage podium. Lucas Schädlich gets his reward for battling over the mountains with a 2 place improvement on the first time trial to take 3rd. And in 2nd, a very impressive Markus Fothen. He lost 1'21 to Phinney over 42km earlier in the race - and only 1'33 today over 60km. He is firmly in the battle for a Top 5 finish now.
1
Taylor Phinney
Wikipedia
1h25'14
2
Markus Fothen
Festina-Canal+
+ 1'33
3
Lucas Schädlich
Team Bacardi
+ 1'48
4
Vincenzo Nibali
UBS - BMC
+ 2'02
5
Marcel Kittel
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 2'03
6
Angel Madrazo
Santander
+ 2'17
7
Yuri Trofimov
Koenigsegg
+ 2'32
8
Simon Spilak
Aker - MOT
+ 2'38
9
Kristjan Koren
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 2'50
10
Thomas De Gendt
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 2'51
11
Brian Vandborg
Team B&O
+ 2'55
12
Jesse Sergent
Milka - AVG
s.t.
13
Manuel Lloret
Lotto - Cervelo
+ 2'57
14
Thomas Faiers
Pendleton's
+ 3'02
15
Peter Velits
Project 1t4i
+ 3'06
16
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
Milka - AVG
+ 3'10
17
Romain Sicard
Pearl Adidas
+ 3'14
18
Adrian Malori
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
19
Nico Keinath
Team B&O
+ 3'16
20
Tim Dees
Festina-Canal+
+ 3'17
21
Fabio Duarte
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
+ 3'19
22
Nick Clesen
Cisco Cycling Team
+ 3'25
23
Gianpaolo Caruso
Cisco Cycling Team
+ 3'29
24
Dmitriy Gruzdev
Cisco Cycling Team
+ 3'42
25
Elia Viviani
Simply Red Bull
+ 3'55
26
Morgan Kneisky
Pearl Adidas
+ 3'57
27
John-Lee Augustyn
Aker - MOT
+ 3'58
28
Ryan Eastman
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
29
Mattia Cattaneo
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
30
Pim Ligthart
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 4'02
31
Gustavo Veloso
Santander
+ 4'05
32
Thomas Peterson
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 4'11
33
Steven Cummings
Pendleton's
+ 4'16
34
Robert Kiserlovski
Hollister Pro Cycling
+ 4'21
35
Ion Izagirre
Hollister Pro Cycling
s.t.
36
Philipp Walsleben
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 4'23
37
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Wikipedia
s.t.
38
Riccardo Ricco
Team Bacardi
+ 4'29
39
Jos Van Emden
Project 1t4i
+ 4'30
40
Kiril Yatsevich
Team Bacardi
s.t.
41
Gediminas Bagdonas
Team Bacardi
+ 4'32
42
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
Milka - AVG
+ 4'38
43
Teodoro Costagli
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 4'40
44
Joseph Cooper
Simply Red Bull
+ 4'43
45
Matthieu Sprick
Wikipedia
+ 4'48
46
Leopold König
Milka - AVG
+ 4'50
47
Emanuele Sella
Simply Red Bull
+ 4'51
48
Ben Swift
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 4'54
49
Bernhard Kohl
Pendleton's
+ 5'00
50
Welle Jallays
Pokerstars.com
+ 5'02
51
Ruben Ibanez
Pendleton's
s.t.
52
Matea Kvasina
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
53
Tyler Brandt
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
