Martin wins opening time trial at Tour de Suisse

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Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) made light of the hilly parcours to record a fine victory in the opening time trial of the Tour de Suisse in Bellinzona. The world time trial picked where he left off at the recent Tour of Belgium and simply had too much for his rivals over the testing 9.4km course.

Martin beat Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) by six seconds and Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) by 13, while home favourite Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) had to settle for fourth place, a further three seconds back.

The word beforehand was that the hill to Artore might unravel Martin’s aspirations, but the German settled quickly into his typical, metronomic rhythm on leaving the start house, and did not allow the climb to disrupt his progress. He swooped down the other side of the climb and back into Bellinzona to stop the clock in 13:48 and dislodge Dennis from the hot seat.

It was immediately apparent that it would take something special to better Martin’s time, and Dumoulin apart – the Dutchman delivered an impressive and well-paced effort – nobody could come within touching distance of the man who has worn the rainbow jersey in the discipline for the past three years.

While Martin wrapped up the stage honours, there were some other minor winners in the general classification battle. After his performances against the watch in last year’s Vuelta a España and the recent Giro d’Italia, Domenico Pozzovivo’s performance (5th at 19 seconds) was perhaps not quite a surprise, but it is still startling to see a climber of his stature finish ahead of so many riders with a proven time trial pedigree.

Bradley Wiggins (Sky), for instance, had to settle for 14th on the day, 32 seconds behind Martin, while Cadel Evans (BMC) could only manage 63rd on the day, some 56 seconds back.

It was a happier outing for Bauke Mollema (Belkin), who rode to 8th place, 22 seconds off the pace, while Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling) and Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo) limited their losses to finish just behind Wiggins in 15th and 16th place, respectively.

Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) came in 40 seconds down on Tony Martin, while world champion Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), who is chasing a third successive overall victory in the Tour de Suisse, lost a further two seconds.

Sergio Henao was making his first appearance since his Sky team cleared him to return to racing, and he produced a solid display to finish 26th, 41 seconds down. Henao had been withdrawn from action by Sky after concerns were raised about his fluctuating blood values, but the Colombian was recently given the green light to return after an internal investigation and he remains in line for a berth in the Tour de France team.

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