Report: Tony Martin Wins Chrono des Nations

Omega Pharma – Quick-Step’s Tony Martin won the 48.5km time trial, Chrono des Nations, on Sunday ahead of teammate Sylvain Chavanel with Taylor Phinney 3rd

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Omega Pharma – Quick-Step closed out the season in the best way possible with their 58th win in three disciplines and a 1-2 finish.

Photo: Bruno Bade

set the standard, with a blazing fast time of 58 minutes and 48 seconds on Sunday. He finished minutes ahead of much of the field. Following behind him was Tony Martin, and the two-time UCI World Time Trial Champion crossed the line with the best time of 58 minutes and seven seconds.

“It’s a nice way to finish the season,” Martin said. “When you win it’s always good. I did the same event last year closing my season with a victory here. Today everything went perfect. There were a lot of competitors — that’s why the race was so interesting. During the TT, I had no radio, so it was impossible to moderate the effort. I only tried to find my tempo, a right pace and I maintained it until the end.”

“Sylvain was second — as a team we cannot complain about our result today,” jokes Martin. “We were one of the best teams for the entire season. I’m proud to be part of this group. Now I will go home, I will reach my family and I will take a period of rest. I think everybody in the peloton deserves it.”

Photo: Bruno Bade

Taylor Phinney Third At Chrono des Nations
BMC Racing Team’s Taylor Phinney rode to a third-place finish in Sunday’s Chrono des Nations time trial, his final race of the 2012 season.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step teammates Tony Martin and Sylvain Chavanel went 1-2, with Chavanel edging out Phinney by one second for the runner-up spot in the 48.5-kilometer race against the clock. Second-to-last to start, Phinney trailed Martin by seven seconds at the first intermediate time check (13 km) and Chavanel by two. At the last intermediate check (35.5 km), he was nine seconds back from Chavanel, but didn’t know it because he and BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Rik Verbrugghe were not receiving time check details.

“That was ok, though, because I ran my race like I normally would,” Phinney said. “I didn’t quite have it at the end. The last 12 kilometers I suffered a lot. But I think I’ve grown a lot as a time trialist and in my ability to hang with these guys in these longer time trials.”

At the world time trial championships last month, Phinney was runner-up to Martin by five seconds on a slightly shorter (45.7 km) course. In a season in which he won the Stage 1 time trial at the Giro d’Italia and the final time trial at the USA Pro Challenge and was fourth in the Olympic Games time trial, Phinney said he’s motivated looking ahead to 2013. “I’ve had a lot of close calls this year and think that changes your mindset as you go forward,” he said. “You start to think of the little things you can change in your everyday routine in order to get that one second or that five seconds or that three seconds you might have missed the year before.”

Results
1. Tony Martin OPQS 58:07.16
2. Sylvain Chavanel OPQS +41″
3. Taylor Phinney BMC Racing Team +42″

17. Chris Froome, Sky
21. Richie Porte, Sky

 

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