Bradley Wiggins put in a battling time trial display on stage four of the Tour of Murcia which moved him up to third in the overall standings.

Wiggins was the third fastest rider over the 22km course in Alhama de Murcia, clocking a time of 25 minutes 58 seconds, but that was 48 seconds behind HTC-Columbia's Frantisek Rabon, and 15 seconds adrift of Denis Menchov (Rabobank).

The 29-year-old now trails Rabon by 53 seconds in the general classification with one stage still to race in southern Spain.

Rabon, a time-trial specialist from the Czech Republic, always looked one of the riders most likely to challenge for the top spot and held a five-second advantage over most of his big rivals when the action unfurled on Saturday morning.

That proved to be the case and Wiggins could only look on as Rabon stormed the flat course on his way to securing the yellow jersey.

Overnight leader Josep Jufré (Astana) dropped to fifth after he crossed the line 1min 21sec off the pace. Nicolas Portal was Team Sky's next fastest rider in 40th (2min 45sec behind Rabon).