Grabsch powers to fourth TT title

Bert Grabsch took the men's time trial title in Germany for the fourth time, leading an HTC-Highroad sweep of the podium. Grabsch covered the 34km course in 49:51 to top teammates Tony Martin by 59 seconds and Patrick Gretsch by 1:33.

Defending champion Martin had come into the race as the favourite, but was soundly beaten by former champion Grabsch, who won in 2007,2008 and 2009. This was also Grabsch's first win since the 2009 German time trial title.

"It hasn't gone so well the last few months," the 35-year-old said on rad-net.de. "It took a while to diagnose a virus that I had and since then things are better."

The 2008 Time Trial World Champion said, "I concentrated totally on this time trial and am proud to be champion. It gives me motivation for the future."

Martin was the first to congratulate his teammate. "He deserved to win. I am not sad to be second. The main thing is that the title stays in the team."