Klöden and Martin dominate closing time trial

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Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) won the closing time trial of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco as second-place stage finisher Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) snapped up the overall title. Marco Pinotti of HTC-Highroad was third on the day.

Klöden landed atop the podium with his first stage race title since 2008. Defending champion and teammate Chris Horner finished second, in the same time as third placed Robert Gesink of Rabobank.

Former leader Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) finished 33rd on the stage, over two minutes down, falling to 11th overall.

It was Martin's third time trial win of the season, and he covered the 24km in a time of 32:15. He most recently won the Paris-Nice time trial on his way to the overall title in that race.

"The goal of the week here was to win today, and that's what I've acheived," Martin said afterward. "I had a bit of a break after Paris-Nice and when I started this race I knew that I wasn't going to be at 100 percent straight away. But I've ended the race in great condition, and this win is the confirmation."

The sun was shining as Manuele Boaro of Saxo Bank-SunGard was the first on the course, setting the first time of 35:16. This was soon topped by his teammate Richie Porte, who clocked 33:09, but the Tasmanian couldn't hold up against Martin. He set the best time at the midway point, and took the lead with 32:15.

The German had set a blistering pace, with few able to come close to him afterwards. His teammate multiple Italian national time trial champion Marco Pinotti came within 24 seconds of the best time.

Martin said that the very hilly time trial course in Zalla was so tough that he had to be careful not to go 100 percent from the start.  "It was a very easy course to miscalculate your strength because it was so technical and there was a lot of climbing. I had problems on one bend on a descent, I braked too hard, but apart from that it went pretty well. The key was making sure you didn't go too hard in the first part and I had enough strength to finish at 100 percent."

The real battle, though, was not for the stage win but for the overall title. With 11 riders within 18 seconds of the lead, and the top three actually tied on time, the race came down to a question of picking up seconds all along the course.

Beñat Intxausti (Movistar), in ninth place going into the day, put in a brilliant ride to finish in a time of 33:18 and move up to fourth overall. Robert Gesink (Rabobank) also put in a blistering time to move up in the rankings.

But it was Klöden who took the day, breaking Martin's intermediate time by seven seconds. He was unable to hold on to it, though, coming across the finish line nine seconds behind his fellow German.

"The time trial went so well ," said a happy Klöden. "Johan Bruyneel and José Azevedo coached me so well in the following car. They had the split times of Tony Martin. I started very fast and the climb went very well for me. I could keep my good pace till the end. Perfect."

"It was a very hard week. There were a lot of climbs and so many attacks," said Klöden after the race. "It’s unbelievable really that I’ve won here again after 11 years. But it shows what can happen. You need to be strong mentally and have a nice team. Without the team it’s not possible. My team was always in the race and looking out for me. I want to say thank you to my team."

Rodriguez was clad in yellow from head to toe, but the dreaded time trial once again did him in. He was very low down at the intermediate time check, and lost enough time to fall out of the top ten overall at the finish.

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