Martin powers to time trial victory, overall lead

Image 1 of 88

Widely anticipated to be the big favourite for Paris-Nice due to the importance of the individual time trial on this year’s course, Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) lived up to expectations by leading the race from start to finish and taking overall lead from his compatriot Andreas Klöden (RadioShack), who is ten years his senior. 

“To win this stage was my real goal at Paris-Nice but now I hope to keep the yellow jersey until the end and I’m confident of doing it,” the HTC-Highroad rouleur said in Aix-en-Provence.

This was the first time since 1968 that Paris-Nice has had such a long time trial (27km), after this year’s edition had put an end to the tradition of starting the race with a prologue. It has blocked the race to an extent, as most of the favourites waited for this stage against the clock, and the outcome was no surprise.

Martin clocked an impressive average speed of 48.5km/h on an undulating course near the Durance River. At the half way point, he was 22 seconds ahead of Bradley Wiggins (Sky), 26 ahead of Klöden and 37 ahead of Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-SunGard), who promised to compensate in the time trial for the time he lost on the previous stage. The Australian finished strongly as he recouped eight seconds on the German to move to twelfth overall, but it was a harder finale for Klöden, who lost twenty seconds to Martin in the second part of the race, which included the downhill.

Lieuwe Westra’s (Vacansoleil-DCM) time of 34:21 lasted as the best one for over an hour, until Porte crossed the line.

“I was not feeling very good but it’s the same in every time trial I do,” said the Dutchman, who finished third in the prestigious Chrono des Nations at the end of last season. He also accompanied David Millar and Edvald Boasson Hagen on the podium in Les Herbiers, so it was nothing new to see the winner of the 2009 Tour of Picardy do so well against the clock and continue Vacansoleil’s successful week at Paris-Nice. After winning stage 1 and wearing the yellow jersey for three days, Thomas De Gendt confirmed his good form by coming fifteenth in the time trial.

“We have a very strong team,” Westra said. “I’m happy to make the top ten [6th] today. The level of racing at Paris-Nice is very high.”

The Dutchman expected to be outclassed by race favourites Martin, Wiggins, Porte and Klöden, but a surprise was created by Olympic mountain bike silver medallist Jean-Christophe Péraud. The Ag2r-La Mondiale man came fifth and moved up to occupy the same position on GC, after lying in fifteenth in the morning.

“I was worried before the start because I wasn’t satisfied with my ride uphill yesterday,” Péraud told Cyclingnews. “But as soon as I started this time trial, I had superb sensations. Quickly I could see Michael Rogers in front of me and it was good for my motivation.”

Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) didn’t enjoy the ride as much as his compatriot. The winner of stage 4 showed up on the start line only twenty minutes before his time to take off but he missed it because the officials requested to check his bike before they let him go. “I wouldn’t have won the time trial anyway,” said Voeckler, who finished 83rd. “But I haven’t been very professional in arriving so late.”

With a 36-second lead over Klöden and 39 over Wiggins, Martin can look forward to the final two stage of Paris-Nice with a degree of comfort. “It’ll be two difficult days but I have a really strong team on my side,” Martin acknowledged. “I have a good gap on the other GC riders.”