Martin defends German time trial title

Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) successfully defended his German national time trial title, covering the 50km course in a time of 1:00:58. That was a minute and a half faster than the second-placed finisher, Patrick Gretsch (Argos-Shimano), who came in at 1:02.31. Third place went to Stefan Schumacher (Christina Watches), with a time of 1:02:51.

“I won by one and a half mintues. That shows me that my formis right going into the Tour, since the  time trial competition in Germany is very good,” Martin said. “It was a totally normal time trial, uncomplicated, and the course suited me.”

Former World and German time trial champion, and Martin's Omega Pharma-QuickStep teammate, Bert Grabsch finished ninth, over five minutes down.

As defending champion Martin started the race last and it soon became obvious that the title would be his. He caught his two-minute man, Lars Teutenberg, at the halfway point, and also setting a new best time of 30:52. Both he and Teutenberg eventually caught and passed Grabsch, Martin's four-minute man, in the second half of the race.