Tadej Pogacar stretched his Giro d’Italia lead as he powered to victory in the stage-seven time trial, while Geraint Thomas dropped to third overall.

The Slovenian once again illustrated his status as the overwhelming Giro favourite, flying up the final climb to overhaul Filippo Ganna’s time.

Pogacar trailed double world time trial champion Ganna by 47 seconds at the foot of the climb but claimed his second stage win of the week by 17 seconds after a blistering run to the finish line.

The 25-year-old finished the 40.6km stage in 51 minutes 44 seconds.

Welshman Thomas, who began the day second overall, fell to third after losing two minutes to Pogacar on the day.

Bora-hansgrohe rider Dani Martinez finished one minute 49 seconds behind Pogacar but it was enough to see him jump above his former Ineos team-mate Thomas into second, two minutes and 36 seconds off the leader’s pink jersey overall.