Tony Martin wins the 2013 Tour of Belgium

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Luis Leon Sanchez (Blanco) soloed to victory on the fifth and final stage of the Tour of Belgium while overnight leader Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) withstood pressure from BMC to claim overall victory.

Franceso Gavazzi (Astana) sprinted to second place on the final stage at the front of four-man chase group 27 seconds behind Sanchez, ahead of world champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Andreas Klöden (RadioShack Leopard) and race leader Tony Martin.

"At the end I knew it was up to me on La Redoute," Martin said. "I had an eye on Gilbert and finally I could follow him. Then I had a gap that was big enough that I could more or less stay easy. At the end everything was fine, but I think it was one of the hardest stages for me and for the team."

As the peloton disintegrated in the final hour of racing, Martin had marked his GC rivals and won overall by 36 seconds on Sanchez and 51 seconds in front of Gilbert, both of whom jumped to final podium places from aggressive racing on the final stage.

Entering the 175.6km stage's endgame, Sanchez had dropped his four breakaway companions, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM), Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha), Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano) and Romain Zingle (Cofidis), with 40km remaining and pressed onwards on the hilly parcours, featuring two ascents of the famed La Redoute climb in the final 60km.

When Sanchez rode across the finish line to begin a final 37km circuit, including the La Redoute at 20km to go, he led his former breakaway companions by 26 seconds, a 10-man chase group by 59 seconds and the peloton by 1:50.

At this point Sanchez was the virtual GC leader as he started the day 1:16 behind Tony Martin. The German's Omega Pharma-QuickStep teammates, in an ever decreasing peloton hammered by hills, rain and the pace, worked to reduce the Spaniard's lead and inside of 25km remaining the two chase groups were swept up, leaving just Sanchez at the head of the race with a 50-second lead.

Racing on his home roads, Philippe Gilbert and his BMC teammates ramped up the pace in the approach to the La Redoute and Gilbert struck out alone at the start of the climb with 21km remaining. The Belgian was soon joined by Gavazzi, Klöden and a vigilant Martin, determined to keep his leader's jersey.

Once the La Redoute was complete the four chasers had reduced Sanchez's lead to approximately 30 seconds, but would get no closer over the remainder of the stage. Martin didn't contribute to the chase, content that his GC lead was secure, while Gilbert, Gavazzi and Klöden didn't quite have the horsepower to drop Martin nor bring back the four-time Spanish time trial champion.

Sanchez was extra-motivated to win, with the Tour of Belgium his first racing action of the season. Blanco had sidelined Sanchez since February, concerning the Spaniard's apparent links to Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes, and while the matter remains unresolved still, the Dutch WorldTour squad has allowed him to once again compete.

In just his fifth day of racing in the 2013 season, the 29-year-old Spaniard took a hard-fought victory and moved to second overall at the Tour of Belgium, while Tony Martin sealed overall victory 27 seconds later in the four-man chase group.

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