Martin lights up LA time trial

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HTC-Columbia has a firm hold on the Amgen Tour of California, not only winning the decisive time trial with the young German rider Tony Martin but also with Michael Rogers padding his overall lead with a second place finish on the day.

Martin, winner of time trials in last year's Critérium International and Bayern Rundfahrt, blasted through the course in Los Angeles' urban center as the only rider to go under the 42 minute mark, clocking a 41:41 on the line.

"The course was almost flat and with just two little climbs, not too many corners - it was not too difficult," Martin said. "I saw the route in the morning and I knew it would be a pretty good course for me."

The win is confirmation of the deep talent the 25-year-old possesses, but which had yet to present so far this season. "The year has not been so good for me. I had a bad knee injury, so the spring wasn't so nice, not even for my head. I lost a little of my morale,” he said. “Now with the first win of the season it will get better and better. I'm really motivated for the Tour now. I'm on track for the year and am really happy now."

The HTC-Columbia team used its early starters to set pace for Martin and Rogers, and relied on the time trial prowess of former world champion Bert Grabsch, who held the fastest time for the majority of the day, to set split times for his team leaders.

"I had the split times, and when I heard I was 30 seconds up on him I knew I was leading the race. It motivated me to go really deep because at the beginning I didn't know if I had the legs to do a good time trial because I had to work so hard yesterday."

Overall still tight but top three unchanged

Overall leader Rogers was the best of the general classification contenders, coming second on the stage 23 seconds behind his teammate Martin. The yellow jersey holder extended his lead over all of his competitors, and none were more disappointed than Garmin-Transitions' David Zabriskie, who lives in nearby Malibu and was hoping to gain time rather than lose it in Los Angeles.

"I'm disappointed of course. I was a little bit off, but went pretty good," Zabriskie said. "I don't think the race is over yet, I'd say that even if I was in the leader's jersey."

It has been almost five years since Rogers, a three-time world time trial champion, has won in the discipline, but this year he has put more focus on his time trialing after focusing on improving in long stage races.

"Beating both Dave and Levi was a great ride for me. We're all experienced time trialists - this is one of my better time trials in a long time," Rogers said.

"It was a tough time trial, also coming after six days of tough racing, especially after yesterday's mountain stage. They don't call them the test of truth for nothing."

Four-time Tour of California champion Levi Leipheimer (Radioshack) now looks less likely to add a fifth title to his name. While he moved up into third in the general classification over dual stage winner Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo), he lost 11 more seconds to Rogers on the day.

"It's not the best time trial I've ever done," said Leipheimer. "I was hoping for just a few percent more in the legs. I think Dave and Mick had a fraction better than me all week and they proved it today. I have no regrets. I pushed as hard as I could and I didn't make any mistakes.

"When I come to the Tour of California if I don't win, I lose. And that's a lot of expectations. I can be happy with this time trial, considering it's not over until tomorrow."

While Sagan dropped out of a podium position after finishing 1:47 down on the stage, his time was good enough to keep his hold the best young rider jersey as second place young rider Peter Stetina (Garmin-Transitions) was over a minute slower on the stage.

Rogers also owns the points classification jersey with his second place on today’s stage putting him one point ahead of Sagan. The mountains classification has already been sewn up by Team Type 1's Thomas Rabou, who only needs to finish the final stage to bring home the title for good.

Lights, camera, action

It was fitting that stage for the most critical general classification battle of the Amgen Tour of California was set in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. The setting was so perfect it was as if it was manufactured by nearby Hollywood, with bright sunshine, cool temperatures and light wind as the backdrop for the unfolding drama.

The directors called "action" and the riders poured their hearts into the performance on the flat 33.6km course through the streets of the country's second biggest city.

Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) was the first star to take center stage, setting the fastest early time of 43:26. He was quickly overshadowed, however, by Rabobank's Maarten Tjallingii who became the first rider to break the 43 minute mark at 42:53.

Former world time trial champion Bert Grabsch (HTC-Columbia) was the next rider to climb into the hot seat. The German champion just barely edged out Tjallingii by four tenths of a second and would remain in the lead position for much of the day.

There was a brief moment of shock when it was announced that Garmin-Transition's sprinter Robbie Hunter came through with the new fastest time, but the judges quickly corrected their mistake. His time was, however, impressive for a non-specialist and was good enough for third best at 43:02.

That would fall to 10th best before the day was over as all the favourites aimed for the low-42 minute mark.

The HTC-Columbia boys would continue to exhibit their strength in the test of truth putting German Tony Martin into the hot seat later in the day with a blistering 41:41, the first and only rider to crack 42 minutes.

Favourite after favourite would try and fail to match Martin's speed, and the attention turned to the duel between the top three on the GC ladder, Leipheimer, Zabriskie and Rogers.

Leipheimer was the second fastest at the first check behind Martin, but was soon eclipsed first by Zabriskie and then by Rogers at the halfway point.

Rogers had nearly two seconds on Zabriskie at the check, but pulled it out to five by the finish, while Leipheimer continued to lose time over the second lap. He ended the day 11 seconds down on Rogers, his dreams of a fifth Tour of California title further fading.

Saxo Bank's Jens Voigt put in a commanding performance to move himself into fourth place overall. He leapfrogged over United Healthcare's Rory Sutherland with a fifth place on the stage, while Sutherland maintained his high position on the overall.

The top three riders are still separated by only 24 seconds heading into the challenging final stage in Thousand Oaks, home to title sponsor Amgen.

Both Zabriskie and Leipheimer vowed to fight until the end, but Rogers said he feels confident his team can protect his yellow jersey to the line.

"Obviously it isn't a huge lead," said Rogers. "It's still nine seconds - if you count that out in meters it's a long way. My job tomorrow is just to mark the top GC guys and if they move, I'll move. We can expect a lot of attacks from guys that are a bit further down, but my team will cover them.

"A lot of people said at the start of this stage that we couldn't do it, and while it's not over yet we're one step closer."

The final stage runs over four laps of a 33.6km circuit in Ventura and Los Angeles counties along twisty canyon roads that constantly undulate.

Zabriskie, who is familiar with the roads of the final stage, expects the battle to continue through to the end. "It's not over 'til it's over. Tomorrow is a very hard course. Having surveyed the course it can be windy and there are a couple good climbs."

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