Alex Zuelle rode the fastest time trial of his life to stamp his dominance on the Giro d'Italia yesterday.

The Swiss, with two victories in the Vuelta a Espana, is now seven days from a Milan triumph on his Giro debut after a record-breaking 53.7 kph win in a 40 km time trial.

He started the day 22 seconds ahead of Italian Marco Pantani and finished it with an overall advantage of two minutes and two seconds on new challenger, Russian Pavel Tonkov.

Pantani, in his element on mountain roads, was equipped with a special titanium bike but nothing could save him from Zuelle's rapid advance.

Starting three minutes after Pantani, Zuelle overhauled the Italian on a road bordering the Gulf of Trieste, some six km from the finish.

"I suffered just like the others," he said. "When I reached Pantani I knew he was not a time trial specialist but it was still good for my morale.

"My teammate Bruno Boscardin, an early starter, told me that it would not be easy. There was a hill and it was also windy," Zuelle said. "It was, however, to be the fastest time trial of my career."

He clocked 44 minutes and 38 seconds and his average speed was 1.7 kph better than the previous Giro fastest of Russian Yevgeny Berzin four years ago.

Zuelle was 53 seconds faster than Sergei Gontchar, the Ukrainian who came to the fore last year by winning a Giro time trial and taking a silver medal in the world time trial championship in San Sebastian, Spain.

Tonkov pulled off an exceptional ride to finish third, 1:22 slower than Zuelle, but he was not satisfied.