Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) crushed the opposition in today's final time trial of Tirreno-Adriatico and secured his third victory of the season. He was happy with his own performance, but was surprised to see his main challenger be Adriano Malori (Lampre-Merida).

World TT champion Tony seems to be back to his best after a disappointing 2012 season where he "only" won 3 time trials. Up until now he has a 100% strike record this season, and today's dominant performance in San Benedetto del Tronto was just further confirmation of the indications already given in Volta ao Algarve.

Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Leopard) had won on the exact same course in the two previous editions of Tirreno-Adriatico. He was out to make it three in a row, but ended up a disappointing fourth. Many were surprised by his weak performance, and Martin was no exception.

"I expected a really big fight with Cancellara at the end, but the big contender was Malori," Martin said. "But OK, I won and I'm really happy. It shows me that my time trial condition is really good, and it gives me a lot of morale for the season."

Like a prologue

Martin has previously struggled to beat Cancellara in prologues and has been much more at ease in longer time trials. Hence, he was encouraged to come out triumphant on the just 9,2km course.

"It was more like a prologue than really a time trial," he told. "I prefer the longer time trials, from 20 to 50 kilometers. But I really liked it here. It was not too technical. It was really nice, and we were lucky with the weather as there was no rain. So, everything was really fine."

The German powerhouse is a former winner of Paris-Nice and entered the race with his focus on a high overall finish. He struggled on the climbs and ended up as a valuable domestique for Michal Kwiatkowski who ended up fourth. The time trial was his last personal goal in the race.

"I was really looking forward to this day," Martin continued. "I'm really happy I could win here. This is my first time at Tirreno-Adriatico. I really liked this race, and a week of challenging climbs was very important for my conditioning. As for my performance during the stages that weren't time trials, it went better day to day. I still need some time to improve in the mountains, but it is very early in the season. For the moment, I am very happy with this stage win and also the good GC placement of Michal Kwiatkowski. He really deserved it. This was a very good week for the team, especially winning both of the time trials."

Team spirit

A very special sense of team spirit was often claimed as the main reason for the impressive results of Martin's former HTC team. Many of his former teammates have joined each other at Omega Pharma-Quick Step, and now the Belgian team seems to enjoy the same kind of success.

Martin attributes this to an HTC-like spirit.

"It's just a really positive atmosphere," Martin said. "You can really feel that everyone gives 100 percent — the riders, staff, mechanics, soigneurs, sports directors, really everybody. I am so happy and proud to be a part of this team. I think we really force each other to go to the limit and you can really feel it. A win for one of us is a win for the team. It gives us so much power, and makes everyone so successful. It runs pretty much by itself, I think."

Kwiatkowski tired, but happy

With Martin's GC ambitions faltering, it was up to young Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski to lead the team. Even if he has improved his climbs over the winter and had a stint in the leader's jersey in the Tour de San Luis, it came as a surprise that he was able to stay with the best on the mountaintop finish to Prato di Tivo where he took over the overall lead.

He ended up losing the jersey in Sunday's stage to Chieti, but fought on and entered the time trial - his specialty - with a realistic shot at a podium place. He ended up missing it by just one second in an intense battle with Alberto Contador (Team Saxo-Tinkoff), but his ability to be competitive against the best stage

race riders in the world was a great source of satisfaction.

"I did everything I could, but to be honest I was a little bit tired after this week - even mentally," he said. "This race was not so easy, but it is one I will never forget. It was marvelous to be surrounded by a team that was so supportive of me. Maybe I could have done better, but for now it is important to enjoy the fact that I was 4th behind three of the best in the world. For me, I cannot complain about my result with this kind of competition. I am happy and am looking forward to the next races with great morale."

With Kwiatkowski's 4th and Chavanel's 5th place in Paris-Nice - along with stage victories in both races - Omega Pharma-Quick Step is now 3rd in the WorldTour rankings. The team will look to Mark Cavendish, Tom Boonen and Sylvain Chavanel to try to improve on this position in Sunday's Milan-Sanremo.