Volta ao Algarve: Tony Martin wins time trial

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Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) edged out Adriano Malori (Movistar) by the narrowest of margins to clinch a first time trial win of the season on stage three of the Tour of the Algarve. 

The German took 21 minutes 51.071 seconds to complete the 19km course from Vila do Bispo to Sagres, beating the Italian by just four tenths of a second.

Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) put in another impressive ride, clocking the third fastest time (21:54) to consolidate his lead in the general classification.

The win was the first for Martin in his latest German time trial national champion's jersey.

"I wore it also as Champion in 2011, but since then it was just more or less in my cellar, in my training room, because I was always wearing my UCI World TT Champion jersey," martin said. "I'm also proud to wear this German Champion jersey to represent my country. It maybe doesn't carry the same prestige as the one of the world champion, but you can still show the colors of your country and that is always an honor.

"So far it has brought me some luck. It's a really nice start to the season. The first race is always difficult because you don't really know where you are. I felt already really good in training, but races are still different. So already getting a good result is big for my confidence."

The course was short but ideal for someone like Martin, featuring long straight stretches and just the one technical area through the streets of the centre of Sagres shortly after the halfway point. It was gently downhill all the way to that point and afterwards the road rose gently along the coast for the final 4km.

"As for the parcours today, most of it was the same as last year," Martin said. "But still, it was longer than last year, with a hard finale and a headwind section. It was decent for me because there was a hard part at the end where I could really play with my power. I think in the split times I was a little bit slower than Thomas, but I made up the time in the final to even win against Malori. That's what I love, going really hard on a flat with a headwind or a crosswind. That lets me show my power."

Malori, who won the time trial stage at the Tour de San Luis earlier this year, was the first rider to go under the 22-minute mark. At the time he was only second fastest at the 10km intermediate checkpoint but he got stronger in the second portion of the course to take a provisional lead of 19 seconds.

It wasn’t long before Martin rolled off the ramp and he looked in typically hot form as he went through 10k ten seconds quicker than Malori. That advantage thinned out as he went on but not enough to deprive him of a seventh victory in his last eight ITTs. The only blemish on that record is the silver World Championship medal he won behind Bradley Wiggins in Ponferrada in September.

Race leader Thomas was nine seconds quicker even than Martin at the checkpoint but couldn’t turn that initial advantage into what would have been a second stage win in two days. His overall lead remains at 30 seconds but it is now Martin, not Rein Taamarae (Astana), in second place and the others have been distanced with Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) in third at 39 seconds.

Three categorised climbs in the last 50km are on the menu for tomorrow’s stage from Tavira to the Alto do Malhao and if Thomas can hold onto his advantage there he should have the race sewn up. 

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