Vincenzo Nibali, not even meant to be competing in the 2010 Giro d'Italia, snatched the leader's pink jersey this afternoon after his Liquigas outfit won the team time trial on the fourth stage.

Nibali was a late Team Liquigas replacement for Franco Pellizotti, who was withdrawn before the start of the race because of a doping probe after problems interestingly emerged with his blood data.

"I work for a really excellent team. We were very well prepared," Nibali told reporters in Cuneo, Italy.

Teammate Ivan Basso is now second in the overall standings, 13 seconds behind.

Previous race leader Alexandre Vinokourov of Team Astana slipped back to sixth following Liquigas's lightening speed on the 33-km route from Savigliano to Cuneo in north western Italy.

Carlos Sastre's Cervelo TestTeam finished 5th in today's team time trial while road World Champion Cadel Evans and his BMC Racing Team placed 12th.

"This team time trial has been a very positive result for us. To finish sixth with the same time as Astana, especially in a time trial like today's, has been very important for us after the first two stages and the rest day given that we have made up time that we had lost against some important riders," Carlos Sastre commented after completing the Giro team time trial.

Sastre used the opportunity to thank and praise his teammates for their job in the time trial saddle today "I think the team has done a sensational job and it goes to show how important it is to be well organised and have a motivated team. This has really helped towards the result, for us to make up time, and above all, to get ahead of other important riders in the lead up to the rest of this year's Giro," Sastre added.

"It was a good ride, it looks like everybody is happy now. My legs were really good today," Cervelo TestTeam's powerful and open Lithuanian national time trial champion Ignatas Konovalovas.

"We started normally, not too fast, not too slow. The first part looked very easy, you take a pull on the front, then you're on the wheel. Then the last 15km was very hard all the time. In the middle, we also had a huge downpour of rain. The corners were slippery, I could feel it," Konovalovas added.

The previous three stages took part in Netherlands where high winds contributed to a raft of crashes. Tuesday was a rest day.

Thursday's fifth stage is a 162-km route from Novara to Novi Ligure.

Stay tuned to us here at Roadcycling.com for complete 2010 Giro d'Italia coverage including video highlights from the race and visit www.universalsports.com/cycling for live video from the Giro.

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