Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) had a bad start to the Tour de France as he crashed heavily in stage one and suffered numerous injuries. Having recovered well, he does, however, feel ready for tomorrow's time trial for which the defending world champion is the outstanding favourite.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step may have missed out in today's sprint stage as Mark Cavendish had to settle for third but the team has an even better chance to take its second win tomorrow. World champion Tony Martin has been almost unbeatable in the time trials this year and he is expected to shine on the mostly flat 33km course.

His bad crash in stage one that left him with numerous injuries, most seriously a contusion of his left lung, were a cause for concern but he has since recovered well. Already in the stage 4 team time trial, he appeared to be his usual powerful self and he is confident ahead of tomorrow's test.

"I feel pretty well," he said. "I had a pretty good rest day. The injuries are quite OK now, not too much pain anymore. I recovered well and am really motivated for the time trial tomorrow."

He feels that he now has the hardest part behind him.

"To get off the bike after the crash and to motivate myself to continue after some bad nights, with almost no recovery, was pretty hard," he said. "I think I passed now the hardest part of this Tour and for me it's now a second start."

"Tomorrow morning I will check the course and then I will give it all to try and conquer this TT," he added. "It won't be easy but I will try."

Should Martin fail, the team has a number of other options. One of those is French champion Sylvain Chavanel who is highly motivated to shine. For numerous years, he suffered from back problems but those were solved last year and since then he has been one of the best time triallists in the world.

"As French Champion of the discipline, tomorrow will be a special day for me," he said. "I'm in good condition and I'm really looking forward to the race. The parcour is good for my skills and of course for guys with the abilities of Tony. I really dream about a good performance as I did last year in the TT."

Starting at 10.00, you can follow the time trial in its entirety on CyclingQuotes.com/live.