Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) once again proved that no one can allow him to get just a few metres up the road when he took a very impressive solo win in today's second stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. Having been part of a 7-rider breakaway, he took off on his own inside the final 20km and despite the combined efforts from Orica-GreenEDGE, Sky, BMC and Garmin-Sharp, the peloton never managed to catch the fabulous German while Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) defended his leader's jersey.

 

Tony Martin may have failed to win the first three time trials of his season but when he fails to excel in his preferred discipline, he just starts to shine in the road races. Today he did what he got so agonizingly close to in last year's Vuelta a Espana: finishing off an excellent solo break with a big victory.

 

Originally Martin had hoped to ride for the GC but the steep climbs in the opening stage were too much for his big powerful body. Having lost all overall options, he changed his strategy and decided to chase a stage win in the hilly Basque Country.

 

Already from the gun he showed his intentions when he briefly went off in a solo attack and when he was brought back and the right move took off, he was again part of the action. Joined by his teammate Jan Bakelants, Maxime Monfort (Lotto Belisol), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Hubert Dupont (Ag2r), Davide Malacarne (Europcar), and Bob Jungels (Trek) he made up the day's early break.

 

With Jungels being just 4.15 down on GC, Tinkoff-Saxo kept the gap at around 2.30 for most of the day and the sprint teams seemed to be content that they could close it down. They left it to the final 50km to start a concerted chase effort but at that point it was all too late.

 

At one point the gap was down to less than one minute as BMC, Orica-GreenEDGE, Sky, and Garmin-Sharp were all riding hard on the front and it seemed that they had done enough to secure a sprint finish. However, Martin had different plans and so he took off on his own.

 

At first he was joined by Izagirre and Bakelants but as the Spaniard refused to do any work, Martin took off again. This time no one responded and from there it was a time trial all the way to the line.

 

He kept a stable 1.10 gap for a long time but started to lose ground when Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) decided to test Alberto Contador on the final uncategorized climb. Despite the favourites riding hard, however, they failed to catch the strong German.

 

When he crossed the line, he had plenty of time to celebrate his magnificent success while his teammate Michal Kwiatkowski almost made it an Omega Pharma-Quick Step 1-2 as he was only narrowly relegated to third by Ben Swift (Sky) in a photo finish.

 

All the main favourites finished safely in the peloton and as Contador had not trouble responding to Valverde's two late attacks, he heads into tomorrow's third stage with a 14-second advantage over the Movistar leader. After missing out today, the sprinters should get another chance tomorrow as the stage is mostly flat but two late climb may be a challenge for some of the fast finishers and offer a launch pad for attacks.

 

An easier day

After yesterday's spectacle on the opening day, the second stage was expected to be an easier affair. Despite including four categorized climbs in the first part of the race - among them the first category 1 climb of the race - the stage was seen as one for the fast finishers as there were 50.6km from the top of the final climb to the finish. The final section of the 155.8km stage from Ordizia to Urdax-Urdazubi had some lumpy terrain but it was not expected to challenge the sprinters.

 

The hilly terrain in the Basque Country invites itself to attacks and so it was no surprise that the stage was off to a rather animated start. Several riders tried to take off in the early part of the race but it was no easy affair to get clear.

 

Martin shows his intentions

At the 10km mark, things were still together but things started to get serious when no less of a figure than world TT champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) took off in a solo attack. At the 17km mark, he was back in the fold but when the right move went just seconds later, Martin was again part of the action.

 

The German was joined by his teammate Jan Bakelants, Bob Jungels (Trek), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Hubert Dupont (Ag2r), Davide Malacarne (Europcar), and Maxime Monfort (Lotto Belisol) to form an excellent 7-rider group. When they were one minute ahead, Caja Rural realized that they had missed the move and so Omar Fraile took off in pursuit.

 

Fraile is caught

The young Spaniard kept losing time and at the top of the day's first climb, he was a minute behind the leaders, with the peloton following at 2.30. Hence, he decided to wait for the main group which was led by the Tinkoff-Saxo team of race leader Alberto Contador.

 

Several big names retired from the race at this point. Carlos Betancur (Ag2r) has apparently not recovered from his knee cyst and left the race, losing precious racing kilometres ahead of his goals at the Ardennes classics. Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) who was coming back from injury as well also left the race while an in-form Lieuwe Westra (Astana) was the next rider to throw in the towel after having been disappointed with his showing on the first stage.

 

Tinkoff-Saxo in control

With Jungels being just 4.15 behind on GC and the breakaway being very strong, Tinkoff-Saxo had no intentions of letting the situation getting out of control. They kept the gap stable at around 2.30 for a long time and even brought it down to 2 minutes by the time they reached the feed zone.

 

The early work for Contador's team was left to Jesper Hansen, Bruno Pires, Michael Mørkøv, and Sergio Paulinho and that quartet had to work hard to keep the strong break under control. At the day's third climb they started to lose a bit of ground as the gap was up to 2.26 by the time Martin led Bakelants over the top with no one being interested in the points.

 

Orica start to chase

After the descent, the riders hit the day's main climb and this was the signal for Orica-GreenEGDE to kick into action. They put Johan Esteban Chaves on the front and the young Colombian rode almost all the second half of the climb on the front until Pires and Paulinho again took over a few hundred metres from the top.

 

Chaves lost ground and when Bakelants crossed the summit as the first rider, the gap was up to 2.50. Oirca-GreenEDGE again stopped chasing while Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural), Ben King (Garmin), and Matthew Busche (Trek) went down in a crash on the descent.

 

An organized chase

Having hit the flat road, Orica-GreenEDGE started the chase in earnest as they put Christian Meier and Pieter Weening on the front. They quickly got some assistance from Danny Pate (Sky) and the gap started to come down.

 

Garmin-Sharp also put Caleb Fairly on the front of the peloton while BMC added Amael Moinard to the chase. Sky committed even more firepower when they asked Peter Kennaugh to join the work and now several riders were working excellently together.

 

Martin takes off

The gap melted away and with 18km to go, it was down to just 50 seconds. Martin sensed that something had to be done and so he attacked on a small uncategorized climb.

 

Only Izagirre could join him while Malacarne and Bakelants followed a little further behind. The latter accelerated to latch onto the back while their four former companions combined forces to form a chase group.

 

Martin goes again

Martin's strong work brought the gap back up to 1.05 where is stayed stable for some time. However, Izagirre refused to do any work and so Bakelants and Martin started to open small gaps to force the Spanird into work.

 

With 12km to go, Martin took off and this time Izagirre had no response, Martin opened the gap up to 1.10 and kept it stable there all the way to the final climb that started 7km from the line.

 

Valverde tests his legs

Orica-GreenEDGE were now getting desperate and so they put Simon Gerrans and Michael Albasini on the front. They brought back Jungels and Monfort and later also Malacarne and Dupont.

 

With the peloton splintering behind, Valverde decided to test his legs but Contador and Albasini responded immediately. Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Kwiatkowski, and Ion Izagirre (Movistar) joined them and a little later Cadel Evans (BMC) brought the group back together.

 

Valverde tries again

Izagirre hit the front to ride hard for Movistar and reeled his brother Gorka. The latter took a short turn on the front before Valverde made another attack that was enough to end the escape for Bakelants

 

As Contador and the rest of the peloton responded immediately, things slowed down. Philippe Gilbert (BMC) used the situation to take off and he was chased by a Katusha rider.

 

Martin finishes it off

Orica-GreenEDGE went back to work and they caught both the Katusha rider and Gilbert. Next to take off was Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) and Bakelants but as Europcar had now hit the front, they didn't get clear.

 

The French team rode hard for the final 2km but it was all too late. Martin took an impressive solo win while Swift made a long sprint in the battle for second and ended up going head-to-head with Kwiatkowski in a close photo finish.