Tony Martin wins time trial in Diksmuide

Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Tony Martin won the Stage 3 time trial in Diksmuide on Friday. He won the 16.7km race ahead of Team Giant-Shimano's Tom Dumoulin and IAM Cycling's Sylvain Chavanel.

"On paper the time trial looks really easy, but especially in this kind of time trial every single second counts," Martin said. "You have to go 100 percent from the start. There is really no time to play games or consider any tactics. It's just full gas the moment you leave the start house. I gave everything. The wind was pretty hard, especially in the final.

"So, when you are already pushing hard in the beginning it's even more difficult in the final with the wind. But I had a lot of morale and kept on fighting the whole time. I think the TT is the key point of the stage race and my goal is to try and win the Baloise Belgium Tour for a third time. 

Martin's win vaulted him into the lead of the Baloise Belgium Tour by 16 seconds ahead of Dumoulin and 26 seconds ahead of Chavanel as the race heads into the fourth stage from Les Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure - Les Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure on Saturday.

"Now the situation for the team is really good, even though the time gap is not very big," Martin said "We have a very strong team here. All you have to do is look at the names who are here to know this. So I think our chances to defend are good. Last year the last stage was very hard, but this year it looks to be a little less hard. But, we have really strong contenders, such as Dumoulin who was second last year.

"They won't just give us the overall victory, it will be two hard days where we have to fight. Today, however, I'm really happy. It's not easy being the big favourite from the start and I am satisfied with this victory."

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