First Endurance rider Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) used his time trial strength to the confirm overall victory in the Eneco Tour on Tuesday as he surged an emphatic win in the race’s last individual time trial in Genk, Belgium.
Already the fastest at the time trial’s intermediate checkpoint, Martin finally came close to averaging 50 kilometres an hour on the short but very technical course, which he completed with a time of 20 minutes and 24 seconds.

The HTC-Columbia rider finished six seconds ahead of Dutchman Maarten Tjallingii on the stage and increased his overall advantage on second-placed Koos Moerenout of Holland to 31 seconds.

“Winning the last time trial is a truly perfect way of ending the race, and it will keep me really motivated for the final part of the year,” Martin said. “It’s a great feeling to have taken such an important win, and I’m now on track for my next few targets.”

“I’ll ease back a little bit now, and then start my final build-up for the World Championships Time Trial in Australia with a ride in the Tour of Britain. I can’t say what will happen in the World Championships, and it’ll be hard to beat [defending champion] Fabian Cancellara, but I’ve been working hard on my time trialling and we’ll see how it goes.”

“What impressed me the most about Tony was how he turned around after the Tour de France and came back to do so well here,” added HTC-Columbia sports director Brian Holm. “We talked about his ambitions and didn’t know whether he would be so good, but once he got in the break where he took the lead, we knew he had a chance. However, for sure we didn’t take anything for granted.”

“One stage went over part of the Amstel Gold race course, another used part of Fleche Wallone and then today we knew Moerenhout is a strong time triallist so we went all out right to the very end.”

The Eneco Tour is Martin’s first overall win in a ProTour course and his fifth of the 2010 season.

Final general classification

1 Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC – Columbia 28:50:57
2 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank 0:00:31
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:01:46

First Endurance rider Andre Greipel (HTC-Columbia) took his second stage victory at this year’s Eneco Tour as teammate Tony Martin moved one step closer to overall victory in the UCI ProTour stage race.   Like the rest of his teammates, Greipel worked hard all day to help Martin defend his race lead on the hilly stage in the Ardennes but still had the speed to win the sprint in Heers.

He was well placed in the final kilometre despite some late attacks and then burst past Edvald Boasson Hagen to win by more than a bike length. Belgium’s Jurgen Roelandts also went past Boasson Hagen to finish second.   It was the the 52nd victory for the HTC-Columbia team in 2010.

“This is a very special victory for me,” Greipel said proudly. “It was a hard stage and not really suited to the sprinters. I was seriously struggling to stay in the peloton after working to help Toy Martin hold the lead. With 10km to go to the finish, I went back to the team car and they told me to save myself for the sprint. I was really hurting but fortunately I had a little bit left and it was enough to win.”

Tony Martin picked up some precious bonus seconds during the stage to extend his overall lead to 11 seconds on Koos Moerenhout before Tuesday’s final 16.9km time trial stage around Genk.

Brief results
1 André Greipel (Ger) Team HTC – Columbia
2 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team

First Endurance rider Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) took the Best Young Rider jersey today in the prologue of the Tour de France. Martin had posted the fastest overall time of the day until the very end of today’s stage, when Cancellara came through and moved Martin down to second on the day.

BEST YOUNG RIDER
1 Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC – Columbia 0:10:10
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:00:13
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:00:22

First Endurance rider Tony Martin (Team HTC-Columbia) powered to victory in the final time trial of the Tour de Suisse on Sunday, saying afterwards he was surprised and pleased to have taken the 26.9-kilometre race against the clock in Liestal.  Martin finished 17 seconds ahead of Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara, with American David Zabriskie in third.

“I wasn’t really expecting this,” Martin said afterwards. “I’ve not been feeling so good in the last two or three days.  It’s been very cold and rainy here in Switzerland and I didn’t think I had much of a chance today.  But I was very motivated, I really wanted to put up a good fight for it, and I think the second half of the stage was where I gained most time on my rivals.”  Already the winner of the Tour of California’s time trial stage this year, Martin said that the Suisse course was very similar.  “It was more or less the same, not too many corners and big roads. You didn’t have to brake or accelerate too hard, and you could keep a steady pace. That suited me.  I lost a little bit of time on the first half of the course, up to the summit of the climb, but saving some energy was the perfect tactic because then I could go full gas in the second half.”

After leading the Tour de Suisse during the first half of the race and then taking the final stage, Martin says he is feeling optimistic about his chances in the German National Time Trial Championships next week.  “I’ve heard it’s an undulating course, a bit like today’s time trial. I’ll be focussing on that really hard from now on.”

Stage 9  Results
1 Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC – Columbia 0:32:21
2 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:17
3 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin – Transitions 0:00:29

First Endurance rider Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) moved into the lead of the Tour de Suisse following a tough final climb on stage three from Sierre to Schwarzenburg on Monday.

Martin made an attack halfway up the climb that shattered the field and finished tenth on the stage, three seconds behind winner Frank Schleck. Martin now leads by one second over Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland and nine seconds over Sweden’s Thomas Lovkvist.

“I was feeling really strong on the last stage and I realised the moment had come to attack,” Martin said later. “After a while, though, I didn’t feel quite as good and I decided to slow down and wait for the others to come back to me. I made sure I didn’t lose too much time in the last kilometre, not going full gas and trying to save a bit of strength for any late attacks.”

Second overall and a stage winner in last year’s Tour de Suisse, Martin says he will go all out to defend the lead.

“My initial idea was to come to Suisse mainly as part of my build-up for the Tour de France. But this is a very prestigious race, I’m very proud to be in the lead, and I’ve no intention of letting it go easily.

“The next two stages are more for the sprinters, it’s stage six on Thursday which will be the big test.”