Hello and welcome to the final phase of the Giro d'Italia which kicks off with the all-important 34.2km individual time trial from Trento to Rovereto. Follow live coverage of today's stage 16 here...

The rain has eased up at the finish and there's no wind, which won't please Dumoulin.

Third best time at the second check for Diego Ulissi of UAE Team Emirates. Meanwhile, German youngster Max Schachmann (Quick-Step) passes Australia's Jack Haig, a team-mate of Simon Yates, who started a full two minutes ahead (but has bigger fish to fry).

Scrap that: Ulissi's team-mate and compatriot Fabio Aru has gone three seconds quicker to take third place - 10 seconds down on Van Emden.

Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) has posted the third best time at the first check, 12 seconds down on Jos Van Emden's time. But it looks like he's been getting some help from his minute-man and team-mate Valerio Conti...

A reminder of the state of play in the top 10 ahead of today's ITT.

Realistically, only three riders can challenge Tony Martin now for the win today: Rohan Dennis, Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin. Carlos Betancur has just rolled down the ramp, but he won't be a factor today.

It's started to rain again at the finish, which could be key to the outcome of this time trial - for the stage winner and the battle for GC.

The likes of Mikel Nieve, Sergio Heneo, Davide Formolo, Michael Woods and Wout Poels have all rolled down the ramp - so we're on to the top 15 now, so the riders will start to leave at three-minute intervals starting with Alexandre Geniez any second now.

Here's Fabio Aru warming up a bit earlier. He's on course now having almost thrown in the towel on Sunday while struggling - and plummeting down the standings - to Sappada. The Italian champion from UAE Team Emirates is 25mins down in 22nd.

Team Sky's David de la Cruz has set the fifth best time at the finish, 47 seconds down on Martin and three seconds clear of his TT specialist team-mate Vasil Kiryienka. We should add that the American Chad Haga (Team Sunweb) completely buried himself to finish fourth, 33 seconds down.

He's still there...

If watching riders on rollers floats your boat then here's Rohan Dennis, one of the favourites today, warming up. The Australian won the opening ITT in Jerusalem and will hope to bolster his top ten hopes with another win today. BMC's Dennis is currently 6:41 down in 11th place but should take time off many, if not all, of those ahead of him in the standings today.

We're in a bit of a lull at the moment - stuck between the TT specialists and the GC favourites. A good opportunity to watch the latest highlights and analysis video from our friends at GCN...

A week ago, Esteban Chaves was sitting comfortably in second position behind team-mate Simon Yates having just won on Mount Etna. He subsequently cracked massively in the mountains and started today's ITT almost two hours down on GC, but still smiling. He's on course now but won't be a factor today. The Colombian also lost the right to wear the blue jersey that belongs to Yates - it's now the Italian Giulio Ciccone who trails the Brit in the maglia azzurra standings.

We spoke to the leader Tony Martin about his ITT and the course: "It's a super fast course which really suited me perfectly. There was a bit of tailwind and the drag was perfect. I recovered well yesterday and did a perfect job. It's quite technical at the end. I hope I stay in the lead at the end - there's still two good guys to come in Rohan Dennis and Tom Dumoulin. It's been a while since I won a time trial so it would be really special to win again. But there's still a long way to go and the main contenders are still coming. It's going to be a long wait."

And here was how Martin did it...

Club house leader for now. Can anyone i) beat Tony Martin, and ii) get a sub-40-minute time?

Meanwhile...

I did some amateur sleuthing / mathematics on the race day, comparing the five previous time trials that both Tom Dumoulin and Simon Yates have done, plus throwing in a couple of others and working out the average splits between the two GC rivals. And you know what, the gap came to 2'11" which is exactly what separates them both in the current standings. Spooky coincidence or a sign of what's going to happen? Read about this and my other predictions for the final week of action in the latest Blazin' Saddles blog...

Here comes Tony Martin, who passes his minute-man Remi Cavagna on the home straight. And that's a super time! He's 13 seconds clear of Van Emden, so his time of 40:14 is the new target for the likes of Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin. The German has a big chance of winning his maiden Giro stage today to complete a Grand Tour grand slam.

For context, the Dutchman was second at the second intermediate - 14 seconds down on Tony Martin and 11 seconds faster than Dowsett.