Welcome to live coverage of stage eight of the Giro d'Italia - a 54.8km individual time trial along winding coastal roads from Gabicce Mare to Saltara. It's a tricky parcours with a nasty climb right at the end - but it has Britain's Bradley Wiggins' name all over it.

Leader Alex Dowsett of Movistar has just tweeted: "Hardest TT of my life". It could well be the best TT of his life too - it will take some beating now with the rain coming down.

Manuele Boaro (Saxo-Tinkoff) sets the third best time at the finish, 45 seconds down on leader Alex Dowsett. Patrick Gretsch is now fourth, and ahead of Jesse Sergent, and 1:48 down on the Movistar man.

Stef Clement of Blanco has set the third-best time at the first check, 44 seconds down on Dowsett.

Here's the rain - it's pouring at the finish in Saltara. Wiggins starts in about 45 minutes. He will not be pleased. Alex Dowsett, on the other hand, will. So will all Wiggins' big rivals on GC - the kind of guys like Nibali and Hesjedal, who are better equipped to push it in bad weather.

Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge) sets the second best time at the finish, 35 seconds down on leader Dowsett.

The grey clouds hanging over the riders look very ominous. Forecasts say the heavens will open pretty soon - meaning Bradley Wiggins may have to face his demons and ride in the rain. He sets off in just under an hour at 14:08 UK time.

Alex Dowsett (Movistar) is the new leader after completing this very tricky course in a time of 1:16.27. The Briton leads Jesse Sergent (Movistar) by exactly two minutes.

Luke Durbridge passes through the second check 47 seconds down on Alex Dowsett.

Frenchman Julien Berard of Ag2R-La Mondiale did not start today's time trial.

Alex Dowsett is through the second check with a 2:17 lead over Sergent. The Briton is flying today - but can he keep it together up this steep climb to the finish?

Jesse Sergent (RadioShack) has completely decimated the field, coming across the line in a time of 1:18.27 - that's 3:05 better than Belkov. That puts Gavazzi a huge 14:42 minutes down.

A cluster of specialists have passed through the first intermediate check but still Alex Dowsett leads. Luke Durbridge (GreenEdge) is 37secs down, Patrick Gretsch (Argos Shimano) is 49 seconds down and Manuele Boaro (Saxo-Tinkoff) is 53 seconds down.

Jesse Sergent is the new leader at the second check, the New Zealander shaving 2:26 off Belkov's effort. Soon after, Sky's Dario Cataldo passes through and he too is faster than Belkov, but still 1:25 down on Sergent.

Although he was the fourth rider to start, Maxim Belkov (Katusha) is first to finish. Benchmark time at Saltara: 1:21.32.

At the second intermediate check, Maxim Belkov has target time of 1:13.21. That's a huge 5:36 ahead of Jack Bobridge of Blanco, the first rider to roll down the ramp today. Spare a thought for Mattia Gavazzi though - the Italian from Androni Giocattoli is 10:16 down. The Russian now has that ramp to the finish.

WOW! New best time at the first check - and British youngster Alex Dowsett is absolutely flying. The Movistar rider powers through Pesaro a full 1:18 ahead of Sergent to take the provisional lead.

Taylor Phinney won the Giro's main time trial last year to take the pink jersey - but that was a shorter, flatter affair. Also, this year the American youngster has been struggling with hay fever and illness. The BMC man comes through the first check 54 seconds down on Jesse Sergent so it's not going to be Phinney's day.

RadioShack's Jesse Sergent has set the best time at the first intermediate check at Pesaro. The youngster from New Zealand has given us a benchmark of 37:38. Maxim Belkov of Katusha is in second place, +4, and Sky's Dario Cataldo is third +1:07. The time gaps are pretty huge - with some riders already four minutes down suggesting the time losses at the finish could well be in excess of 10 minutes for some of the non-specialists.

Some start times for you to watch out for - all in GMT (UK time): Taylor Phinney (BMC) 11:44, Luke Durbridge (GreenEdge) 11:53, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) 12:42, Sergio Henao (Sky) 14:06, Bradley Wiggins (Sky) 14:08, Rigoberto Uran (Sky) 14:09, Michele Scarponi (Lampre) 14:24, Robert Gesink (Blanco) 14:42, Cadel Evans (BMC) 14:45, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) 14:54, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) 14:57, Benat Intxausti (Movistar) 15:00.

Today will be pretty intriguing. Wiggins was meant to trounce his rivals today to build up a nice cushion heading into the mountains. As it is, a battered and bruised (both physically and psychologically) Wiggins is looking to simply reduce the deficit incurred after a testing opening week in Italy. That said, the Sky rider should still be in pink tonight - but just not with as many seconds to play with. This will make the remainder of the race much more appealing for the neutral.

While Wiggins is overwhelming favourite after winning both time trials in last year's Tour then topping it off with the Olympic time trial gold medal, the course today is a different beast. Despite its length, only 20km are flat, with the technical course starting with a series of bumps and finishing with a steep ramp which tops out at 13%. There are time checks at Pesaro (26km) and Calcinelli (51km).