Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) completed a comprehensive victory in Tirreno-Adriatico as Adriano Malori (Movistar) took the biggest win of his career in the final time trial stage on the streets of San Benedetto del Tronto.
Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo) both put in good rides to secure their places on the podium alongside Contador, as the Spaniard secured his first overall stage race victory since the 2012 Vuelta a España.
With a pan-flat course and no outstanding time triallists in the upper echelons of the general classification, the stage win would be fought out among the big specialists of the discipline.
Alex Dowsett (Movistar) was the early leader with a time of 10:33, and the British champion's time would stand for almost an hour before Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) went better by a single second.
But it was another Movistar rider, Adriano Malori, who would provide the fastest time of the day, averaging 53kmh to deliver a scintillating 10:15, enough to beat Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) by six seconds.
Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) was briefly in second place before being pushed into third by Cancellara, while world champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) finished in fourth.
Incredibly this was Italy's first win in a World Tour race since Marco Pinotti's victory in the final time trial of the 2012 Giro d'Italia, and will surely provide a boost for Movistar as they look ahead to the team time trial at the start of this year's Giro.
As for the overall contenders, although Contador was out of reach, the rest of the top-10 went into the stage separated by less than a minute, with former French time trial champion Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) looking threatening in fifth.
However the uncomplicated course failed to produce significant time gaps between the overall contenders with Quintana, Kreuziger, and Peraud all finishing within two seconds of each other, although the Frenchman was able to move himself into fourth at the expense of Julián Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing).
But the race belonged to Contador, who was able to lift Tirreno-Adriatico's distinctive trident trophy above his head to confirm that his Tour de France preparations are right on track, putting the pressure on Chris Froome to do the same at next week's Volta a Catalunya.
Stage 7 Result: San Benedetto del Tronto, 9.1km (ITT)
1. Adriano Malori (Ita) Movistar 10:13
2. Fabian Cancellara (Sui) Trek Factory Racing +0:06
3. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky +0:11
4. Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-Quickstep +0:15
5. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Shimano +0:19
6. Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar +0:20
7. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quickstep +0:22
8. Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing +0:23
9. Stijn Devolder (Bel) Trek Factory Racing +0:24
10. Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica-Greenedge +0:26
Final General Classification
1. Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff-Saxo 25:28:45
2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar +2:05
3. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo +2:14
4. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale +2:39
5. Julián Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing +2:54
6. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale +3:04
7. Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Trek Factory Racing +3:09
8. Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha +3:16
9. Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana +3:16
10. Mikel Nieve (Esp) Team Sky +3:19
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