Former Tour de France winner Cadel Evans relinquished the lead in the Giro d’Italia on Thursday after Columbian Rigoberto Uran won the 12th stage.

Uran was 57 seconds behind the Australian going into the 42km individual time trial from Barbaresco to Barolo.

The Columbia won in just under an hour and Evans finished 1 minute 34 seconds behind as the third fastest rider.

“I worked a lot on my time trial, spending time in the wind tunnel over the winter, but today surpassed my expectations,” Uran said.

“It’s too early to say the race is over. We still have not raced the hardest mountains yet. The most difficult part of the Giro is still to come.”

Evans sits in second place overall, 37 seconds down, and remains well placed to challenge for victory, relieved of the burden of leading.

“I saw Uran coming into form,” Evans said, “but I honestly did not expect him to have such an amazing time trial.

“Of course, I had hoped to have done better myself. The time trial course suited me well, but as I said yesterday, the verdict is on the road.

“My position is good tactically. It is going to be interesting.”

It’s too early to say the race is over. We still have not raced the hardest mountains yet.

Diego Ulissi led for most of the day and looked on course for a third stage victory in the race but had to settle for second after Uran beat the Italian’s time by 1:17.

Overall, Poland’s Rafal Majka sits third, 1:52 behind Uran.

Thomas de Gendt was one of the early leaders and was in front for a long time as he was one of the last cyclists to complete the stage on dry roads.

Later cyclists struggled in the rain, and there was even thunder and lightning at the finish.

There was a scare when Tobias Ludvigsson misjudged a corner on the technical descent and went flying over a barrier, landing hard after a short drop. He lay prone for several minutes but was later seen sitting up before being taken to hospital.

The weather abated and the roads were beginning to dry out again when Ulissi came flying out of the starting gates.

He crossed the line 50 seconds ahead of De Gendt, who eventually finished eighth.

Friday’s 13th stage is a mainly flat, 158km leg from Fossano to Rivarolo Canavese.