Nibali set only the 12th best time on the stage, won by world time-trial champion, Tony Martin, but Froome took only 11 seconds out of Nibali's 34-second advantage, claimed on Monday in the mountains around Porto Sant'Elpidio.
Joaquim RodrÃguez lost the grip on third place he had claimed on Monday as he could manage only 33rd place, 13 seconds behind Spain's Alberto Contador, who took the final podium position.
Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Martin won Tuesday's 9.2km stage ahead of Lampre-Merida's Adriano Malori and Movistar's Andrey Amador Bakkazakova, who were six and 10 seconds back respectively.
Monday's brutal stage, which saw the climbers tackle a 27% incline up the Muro di Sant'Elpidio three times, forced a large number of riders – including Mark Cavendish and Andy Schleck – to retire early, while considerably shaking up the overall standings as Nibali finished almost a minute ahead of Froome to build a 34-second lead.
Such was the difficulty of the stage that the race director, Michele Acquarone, used his Twitter account to admit that organisers must "learn from mistakes".
Replying to some of his followers, Acquarone wrote: "If you lose half your peloton, you just have to be honest and learn from mistakes.
"If riders are not happy, fans are not happy and I'm not happy too. Sometimes it's not easy to find the right balance."
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