Vincenzo Nibali crossed the finish line in the heart of Prosecco wine. It was one of those days. The Giro d'Italia challenge does not always shine as brightly as one might expect.

On the eve of the stage 14 time trial, Trek-Segafredo director Paolo Slongo told Cycling News that he believed Nibali could go toe-to-toe with Dangerman's Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) and make a difference in the remaining overall battle.

. His afternoon fell flat, although his performance in the time trial at last year's Giro certainly suggested that Nibali could be successful on the road to Valdobbiadene.

Nibali had already fallen behind in the early stages of the climb up the fourth class wall of Ca del Poggio. He made up some places on the next intermediate check, but lost time to Kelderman and Maria Rosa's Joan Almeida (Deceuninck-Quickstep).

In the rolling time trial, he finished 23rd, 2:54 behind winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), 1:33 behind Almeida, and 1:17 behind Kelderman. In the overall standings, Nibali remains in fifth place, but is 2:30 behind Almeida and 1:34 behind Kelderman.

He has pulled away from rivals such as Astana's Jacob Fuglsang and NTT climber Domenico Pozzovivo, but his path to the overall win has narrowed.

At the finish, Nibali did not speak to the waiting journalists, but instead gave his thoughts on the day's stage in a communique released by the Trek-Segafredo team earlier Saturday. The time trial is a race of truth: ...... is a cliché, but that does not mean that time trials are not open to interpretation. Nibali was pleased with his power and made it clear that, apart from losing to Almeida and Kelderman, he was not at all unhappy with his afternoon's work.

"Any analysis of today's time trial should be done both on an individual level and in comparison with other riders. For me, the most objective figures on my performance come from my Garmin. My power was amazing and in line with the expectations I set with Paolo Slongo at the start."

Nibali's current numbers for the overall standings gap are surely more troubling: he was in a similarly precarious position at this point in the Giro four years ago, but pulled off a stunning comeback in the Alps.

Nibali's Trek-Segafredo team, without Giulio Ciccone, who abandoned on Saturday with bronchitis, is rather thinly layered compared to the strong Astana group that backed him in his dramatic robbery in 2016. On the other hand, it remains to be seen whether the weather will allow for a full mountainous final week in this novel October Giro.

On the other hand, due to the coronavirus outbreak, there is no guarantee of a finish in Milan on October 25. Sunday's mountain stage to Piancavallo will be crucial for Nibali, who at age 35 is aiming to become the oldest winner in Giro history.

"The finish time was certainly not bad. Compared to the others, Kelderman and Almeida are the exceptions, but they were really strong and, above all, they were wearing the pink jersey," Nibali said, repeating his comments from the eve of the third weekend. Anyway, the real balance of the race will have to be decided after tomorrow's mountain stage to Piancavallo."