Roglic the toast of Chianti as Brambilla stays in pink

It was a day of twists and turns aplenty where the unbelievable became reality as fast as the heavens opened and engulfed the Tuscan hills in heavy, pounding rain.

What was more surprising – that Dutchman Tom Dumoulin didn’t win, that a former ski jumper supposedly riding the first time trial of his career longer than 10 kilometres did, or that the man expected to lose the pink jersey actually managed to hold onto it by the skin of his teeth – is anyone’s guess.

But all these things – incredibly – actually did happen.

Giant-Alpecin’s Dumoulin – widely expected to make amends for his stage 8 meltdown on the dirt tracks outside Arezzo – could only muster 15th place in Panzano in Chianti after struggling on the wet roads which didn’t affect the earlier starters.

Dumoulin finished 1:58 down on the man whom he beat by a hundredth of a second on the opening time trial in Apeldoorn: the Slovenian tyro Roglic who, riding his debut Grand Tour, proved his chrono credentials were no fluke by completing the undulating 40.5-kilometre course in a time of 51 minutes and 45 seconds.

Following his shock relinquishing of the maglia rosa to Brambilla on Saturday’s stage to Arezzo, Dumoulin had dropped out of the top ten. So his arrival at the finish did not yet mark the crowning of Roglic on the Chianti podium: the 26 year-old had to wait in the hot seat for 10 more riders to come home before he could breathe easy.

And while the heavy rain soon made it quite clear that no one was going to be able to challenge Roglic for speed, there was intrigue galore as the battle for pink intensified.

At one stage the maglia rosa looked destined to cover the slim shoulders of rangy Russian Ilnur Zakarin during the race’s second rest day on Monday. The Katusha rider was performing better than any of the GC favourites on a highly technical course made all the more challenging by the sodden conditions.

But then disaster struck for Zakarin. Not once. Not twice. Three times.

First the 26 year-old needed a mechanical with 15 kilometres remaining. Then he crashed inside the final 10 kilometres and was forced to change bikes a second time. And then a cruel final twist saw Zakarin come a cropper on the final bend that had seen many more riders fall before him. To make matters worse, Zakarin’s fell on the gashed thigh and knee that he'd injured earlier – and was further held up by a chain stuck in his derailleur.

Battered, bloodied and bruised, the beleaguered Zakarin crossed the line a huge 3:51 down on Roglic, who by now had been all but crowned the winner.

Roglic’s victory denied IAM Cycling pair Matthias Brandle of Austrla and Norwegian Vegard Stake Laengen by 10 seconds and 17 seconds respectively – all three of the podium finishers having rolled down the ramp before the rain came tumbling down. Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) was fourth at 28 seconds, two seconds quicker than fifth-place Anton Vorobyev (Katusha).

"The course was all the time up and down, left and right. I didn’t expect that – I just wanted to do my best – but I did have some luck with the weather," Roglic told Eurosport before making a startling admission: "This is the first time I’ve done a time trial longer than 10 kilometres."

The drama did not stop there. With Zakarin out of the pink picture, the focus switched to stage eight winner Brambilla, who was putting in the time trial of his life in a bid to keep the maglia rosa from the hands of his Etixx-QuickStep team-mate Bob Jungels.

Jungels, the Luxembourg national champion wearing the white jersey as the race’s best young rider, avoided the worst of the weather to set a highly competitive time in the circumstances, 45 seconds down on Roglic and enough for sixth place on the day.

But Brambilla rode like a man possessed – often making big risks on the wet downhill sections – to hold on to the race lead by one second over his team-mate.

"I’m really happy. Today was different and it was hard defending the pink jersey," Brambilla said. "But I had nothing to lose – I had the pink and I’d already won my stage. I saw riders crash earlier in the day and it was really wet and slippery, but I had to give it a go."

Costa Rican Andrey Amador (Movistar) finished a strong tenth on the day – after leading at the first intermediate check after 11 kilometres – to move into third in the overall standings, 32 seconds down on Brambilla.

Dutchman Steven Kruijswick (LottoNL-Jumbo) is fourth at 51 seconds after a solid time trial – two seconds ahead of Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and four seconds ahead of Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

Dumoulin re-enters the top ten in seventh place at 58 seconds and is joined by Mikel Landa (Team Sky), Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) after the trio experienced mixed performances in the race against the clock.

As for Zakarin, the unfortunate Russian dropped out of the top ten – sinking form second to eleventh, where he now trails Brambilla by 2:09. But he still leads Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2R-La Mondiale), Estaban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) and Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale) after the trio struggled in the rainy conditions in Chianti to post similar – if not as dramatric – days to forget.

The 99th edition of La Corsa Rosa resumes on Tuesday with the second uphill finish of the race at Sestola at the conclusion of a lumpy 219-kilometre stage 9 from Campi Bisenzio.