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...

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

We have a new leader! Josh van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo) comes home 13 seconds quicker in a time of 40:27. I wonder if that will stick or if anyone can get a sub-40?

Is there another explanation for Mads Pedersen's superb time...?

Well, Kiryienka is not going to beat Dowsett: he's just come home 24 seconds down in second place. So, it's a case of one down, a few to go for the Brit leading at the club house.

We spoke to the leader Alex Dowsett at the finish, and he was surprised at his effort: "Looking at the numbers I didn't actually think it was too special. But we're 16 days into a Grand tour so I guess everyone else is in the same boat. It's not often that I can put Victor [Campenaerts] away. If you'd asked me just before I found out, I'd have said it wasn't anything special. When the power wasn't quite there I did my best to get tucked in and getting aero. Hopefully it's good enough to hold some time at the top. Whether it's good enough to hold all the way, I think I'd need the wind to change a bit. [Rohan] Dennis, [Tom] Dumoulin and Tony [Martin] and [Vasil] Kiryienka - there are definitely a few guys out there who can 100% beat me."

A quick update on the first intermediate check: former multi-world champion time triallist Tony Martin took 10 seconds off Mullen's time but was then bettered by Jos van Emden by three seconds - so we have some solid times being put in by the specialists.

Here's Alex Dowsett setting the best time so far...

Yes, we have a new leader - and by quite some margin. Alex Dowsett (Katusha Alpecin) takes a whole 24 seconds off Mads Pedersen's time and so his symmetrical time of 40:40 is the one to beat.

We spoke to Mitchelton-Scott's Svein Tuft at the finish to get his reaction to the course: "It's fast, eh? I hadn't ridden it before and heard rumours that it was going to be really fast. But there are sections where I wasn't really pushing but still going 55 to 60kmph. It's cool. It's one I'd like to really have a go for. If it is a tailwind like it was for myself then you really hit a point where it's hard to go any faster. As long as your gearing is right - and you see with Simon [Yates] that he has a good power-to-weight ratio even if he's small - so as long as it's not a block headwind, he's going to do well."

Talking of Dowsett, the Brit has just surged into the lead at the second intermediate - a huge 15 seconds clear of Campenaert's time.

Meanwhile, it's the second fastest time for Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) at the first intermediate check after 12.7km. He's three seconds down on Ryan Mullen and one second quicker than Alex Dowsett of Katusha.

Good but not good enough for Victor Campenaerts, who fades over the final technical kilometres and comes home three seconds down on Pedersen.

One kilometre to go for Campenaerts, the European time trial champion, and he's looking in the balance. The Belgian was gutted to miss out on the opening day win and maglia rosa back in Jerusalem. Victory today would make up for that, but is it beyond him?

Triple stage winner Elia Viviani comes home 2:02 down on the current leader Pedersen. He won't be too peeved by that: he's not going for GC and tomorrow there's a chance of him adding to his lead in the maglia ciclamino competition.

So, that's not great news for Tom Dumoulin, who has been out in his team car checking out the course following a Sunweb teammate. We're hearing that the rain may return and it's actually a tailwind, which should favour his rival Simon Yates.

And yes, the problems that Mullen has with those cramps are reflected in his time at the finish - the Irishman comes home five seconds down on his Trek team-mate Mads Pedersen, who is still the club house leader for now. It's worth adding that Mullen is the heaviest rider in the peloton - at 77kg.

Meanwhile, as the second check Campenaerts comes through one second to the better of Mullen, who has since had those cramps...

Boy van Poppel (Trek-Segafredo) set the best time at the finish but his effort is trounced by Liam Bertazzo of Wilier which is then, in turn, smashed by Mads Pedersen. The Dane has the new target time of 41:04.