Road Worlds: Tony Martin wins Time Trial

Tony Martin has taken his second consecutive rainbow jersey in the individual time trial for elite men.

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Tony Martin in the rainbow stripes again for the second year in a row. Photo: OPQS/Tim de Waele

The German powerhouse beat Taylor Phinney, USA (+0:05) and Vasil Kiryienka, Belarus (+1:44) in a race that was close from start to finish. The course over 45.7 km course between Heerlen and Valkenburg proved to be a very tough one, especially after the unexpected rainfall during the race.

Tony Martin, who rides for Omega Pharma – Quick-Step set such a blistering pace that he passed Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank) who started two minutes ahead of him. Using a 58-tooth chainring, Martin who is called a “Machine” by teammate Tom Boonen, finished 5.37″ ahead of Phinney, with a time of 58:38.80 with both riders the only two to finish in less than an hour.

It was Martin’s second World Championship in less than a week as Martin was also part of the  Omega Pharma – Quick-Step team that won the World TTT Title on Sunday.

One of the main casualties was Italian rider Marco Pinotti who crashed with the finish in sight. A sharp corner with a wet patch destroyed his chances of a medal. The Italian rider was forced to give up after an attempt to continue. It looked like he hurt his collarbone.

Tony Martin said afterwards, “There was a lot of pressure on my shoulders. Everybody expected me to pick up the gold but it’s a one day race. There’s still some pretty good riders here, even if Fabian Cancellara and Bradley Wiggins are absent. Taylor Phinney was excellent. I must say that the last K was the hardest of my career.”

“I said I just have to ride, but it was not so easy to win. Sometimes you have the power in your legs and sometimes you do not for a race like the World Championship that is just one day. I happened to have good legs. This course was harder than I expected, but I did my best to win for the team despite such a hard final. I had nothing left at the end. I also have to give credit to Taylor, who rode the perfect race today. I am so happy for my victory and to be World Champion again.”

“It’s been a season of ups and downs. I had some muscle problems at the start, got in a car-accident and broke my hand on stage 1 of the Tour de France (where Martin also had a puncture in the prologue). I worked real hard to get ready for the Olympics, the silver medal there gave me a lot of ‘moral’. The Vuelta was the first highlight of the season: no bad luck, no punctures, no crashes. I wanted to show I was strong enough to go for the win here.”

Taylor Phinney, USA, silver medalist. “This is a season with a lot of near misses. If you had told me this morning I would win the silver medal I would’ve been excited. Now I’m pretty pissed. Tony is a great champion but I got so close.”

“I worked on my position on the bike. I used to be a prologue-specialist but now I’m specifically working on longer TT’s. It’s being in the pain cave for an hour. You hate life for a while but then the finish comes and it’s over.”

Phinney said he wasn’t aware of his progress, which had him fastest at the first intermediate checkpoint (14.3 km), 13 seconds down on Martin at the second (29.7 km) and trailing by eight seconds at the third (37.9 km). “I don’t like to use a radio and I cover up my wattage on my SRM so I wasn’t quite sure how I was doing,” the American said. “When you look at my time checks and my power files, I was certainly hitting my marks.”

“I knew I was on a good time when I could see (Fredrik) Kessiakoff as I was climbing the Cauberg. This definitely makes me hungry to work really hard in the offseason, especially when you look at my performances at the Olympics. To be so close to a career and life-changing moment makes me want to work even harder next year to reach my goals.”

Tejay Van Garderen who joined Phinney on the BMC Racing Team’s silver medal-winning team time trial squad Sunday, also said he was unaware of how close he was to earning a podium spot for the United States. “My radio stopped working halfway through, so I had no idea,” he said.

“I kind of had this pacing strategy but it didn’t work out perfectly. A downhill section I thought I could get recovery on was into a headwind. So I went pretty hard on the climbs hoping to get rest there and then it didn’t happen.”

“At the end of the day, though, this is a very good ride for me because one-day time trials aren’t really my specialty.” Van Garderen’s fourth place finish was a career best at the world championships while Phinney’s silver medal added to gold he won in the Under 23 individual time trial in 2010.

Marco Pinotti who had the fifth fastest time at the second intermediate time check, crashed on a left-hand bend where the road was still wet and withdrew shortly thereafter. “I was enjoying the race so much and I knew this time I was going to reach the podium,” Pinotti said while undergoing X-rays at Maastricht University in The Netherlands.

“This sport is too cruel.” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Max Testa said the Italian will undergo surgery in Belgium on Thursday. “The fracture is complicated by the acromioclavicular (AC) separation,” Dr. Testa said. Pinotti, winner of the final time trial at the Giro d’Italia and another race against the clock at the Tour of Austria, was not scheduled to compete in Sunday’s world road race.

Vasil Kiryienka, Belarus, bronze medalist: “I’m surprised I reached the podium. It’s a dream come true and I’ve worked real hard to make it happen. The last three weeks I’ve been focused on the team time trial and the individual TT. Really happy to take home a medal, it’s a real important for my career.”

“I’ve signed a three-year deal with Team Sky. After four years I had to change teams. I’m grateful for what Movistar did for me, especially general manager Eusebio Unzue. I became a pro quite late and at this point I need to step it up a bit. Sky is a team of champions, so I think they’re happy to sign a medal-winner. I’m going to learn to speak English, as I learned to speak Italian and Spanish before. You owe that to the team you’re working for.”

Alex Dowsett on twitter said afterwards “Got to be happy with that. Legs felt good, paced it well which is very unlike me and top 10 was unexpected given this year. Happy chappy. Hats off to Tony Martin & Taylor Phinney, both stunning! Kiriyenka had a very wet ride so a really good 3rd!” Dowsett and Kiryienka will be teammates at Sky in 2013.

Aussie Cameron Meyer (16th) explained more about the course. “It really is a tough course,” he explained. “You didn’t see any 49 – 50 kilometre averages, the winners like Tony Martin were only in the 46’s and a lot of us down in the 44 kilometre an hour averages which is quite slow for an elite time trial. So definitely demanding out there, windy, hilly and then the rain made it a little bit slower with the corners so definitely a tough ride.”

Result
1 MARTIN Tony GER 58:38.76
2 PHINNEY Taylor USA +5.37
3 KIRYIENKA Vasil BLR +1:44.99
4 VAN GARDEREN Tejay USA +1:49.37 45.345
5 KESSIAKOFF Fredrik Carl Wilhelm SWE +1:50.56
6 GRUZDEV Dmitriy KAZ +1:56.44
7 BARTA Jan CZE +2:12.49
8 DOWSETT Alex GBR +2:26.06
9 CONTADOR VELASCO Alberto ESP +2:30.00
10 MALORI Adriano ITA +2:40.54
11 GRIVKO Andriy UKR +2:43.69
12 TUFT Svein CAN +2:56.24
13 KANGERT Tanel EST +2:57.13
14 ZOIDL Riccardo AUT +2:57.27
15 CHAVANEL Sylvain FRA +2:58.15
16 MEYER Cameron AUS +2:59.65
17 KOREN Kristijan SLO +3:05.29
18 ROY Jeremy FRA +3:08.16
19 LARSSON Gustav SWE +3:11.99
20 DE GENDT Thomas BEL +3:15.29

46 HUTCHINSON Michael IRL +5:22.86

Tony Martin – Major results

Individual Time Trial 2012
German Champion ITT
1st Ronde van België stage 4 ITT
2nd Olympic Games ITT
2nd Critérium du Dauphiné stage 4 ITT
2nd Volta ao Algarve stage 5 ITT
3rd Vuelta al País Vasco stage 6 ITT
5th Critérium du Dauphiné Prologue
11th Vuelta a España stage 11 ITT
12th Tour de France stage 9 ITT

Main results 2012
1st Overall Ronde van België
2nd stage 4 Vuelta a España
2nd Overall Volta ao Algarve
4th Rund um den Finanzplatz
5th Overall Vuelta al País Vasco
6th stage 3 Vuelta al País Vasco
23rd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné 2012
55th Trofeo Deià
62nd Overall Paris – Nice

 

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