Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) lived up to expectations in today’s time trial at the Tour de Suisse when he beat Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) by 22 seconds on the hilly 24.5km course in Worb to solidify his position at the top of the overall standings. Defending champion Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) did the time trial of his life to finish third and moved into that same position in the general classification.

After his excellent showing over the last few days, Tony Martin found himself in the position of being the overwhelming favourite for today’s Tour de Suisse time trial and the world champion fully lived up to the lofty expectations. On the 24.5km course, he was clearly the strongest, again beating Tom Dumoulin into second as he had done in the short opening TT.

Martin started his time trial extremely fast and was in a class of his own on the first climb, going more than 10 seconds faster than Rui Costa who had been clearly the best of the rest. The German was unable to produce a similarly superior performance in the second part but maintained his position at the top of the standings to cross the line to take a superior victory.

For the second time in this race – and for the third time in less than a month – Dumoulin finished second behind Martin in a time trial to strengthen his position as runner-up in the overall standings. The Dutchman did a very fast final descent to take back time on Martin but had lost too much time in the first section.

The rider to be most pleased with his ride, however, was probably Costa who did the time trial of his life. Having been a very convincing second behind Martin at the first check, he maintained his speed very well, only losing a little bit on the final descent, and finished the stage in third, just 28 seconds off Martin’s pace.

Another big winner was local hero Mathias Frank (IAM) who finished fifth in the time trial to move into 4th in the overall standings. His compatriot Fabian Cancellara (Trek) was expected to challenge for the stage win and sat in the hot seat for most of the day before being pushed down to fourth.

Youngster Lawson Craddock (Giant-Shimano) and Mattias Cattaneo (Lamore-Merida) both had great rides to finish in the top while Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) again proved his progress in the discipline by finishing 9th. As opposed to this, the stage ended as a disaster for Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Bauke Mollema (Belkin) who could only manage 19th and 21st respectively.

Martin now leads Dumulin by 28 seconds while he has a very healthy 1.05-buffer to Costa and 1.14 on Frank. He takes that advantage into tomorrow’s first mountaintop finish in Verbier. After a long flat opening section in the valley, it all comes to a dramatic end on the 8km climb to the finish where Martin faces his first big climbing test.

A hilly course

This year’s long Tour de Suisse time trial was held on a 24.5km course in Worb and it was definitely no flat affair. The course had two decent climbs and subsequent descents, with only the first short section being really flat.

The first rider down the ramp was Andrea Palini (Lampre-Merida) but it was quadruple world champion Fabian Cancellara (Trek) who stole the early headlines. The Swiss was the second rider to start and the first to finish, stopping the clock in a time of 32.18 to take the early lead.

Great ride by Taciak

Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) was the first rider to finish less than two minutes off the pace, slotting into second, but he was quickly bettered by Mateusz Taciak (CCC Polsat) who was just 50 seconds behind Cancellara. One of the pre-race outsiders Alex Dowsett (Movistar) struggled on the hilly course and slotted into third.

Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) had a poor performance and was far off the pace while his compatriot Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEDGE) did well to slot into fifth. Sprinter Alexander Porsev (Katusha) and climber Maxime Mederel (Europcar) proved the diversity of the course by making it into the top 10.

Roy with a good start

Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin) was the next rider to finish among the 10 best while Philip Deignan (Sky) made it into 9th moments later. All eyes, however, now were on FDJ duo Anthony Roux and Jeremy Roy who had both been fast at the first check, with the latter even being faster than Cancellara. Both lost ground in the second half, however, with Roux making it into third before being pushed down by his teammate who took second.

Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN) and Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo) were the next riders to make it into the top 10 while Martin Elmiger (IAM) and Johan Vansummeren (Garmin) did even better, finishing among the 5 best. Martin Kohler (BMC) made it into 9th but was pushed down by Patrick Gretsch (Ag2r) who set the 7th best time.

Degand surprises

Reto Hollenstein was the next rider to make it into the top 10 but the focus was now on Steve Morabito (BMC) who had posted surprisingly good checks. The Swiss lost a bit of ground towards the end but made it into the provisional fourth.

Belkin TT specialist Stef Clement did a very consistent ride to make it into second while Wanty climber Thomas Degand turned out to be one of the surprises of the day, slotting into fifth. Moments later Cadel Evans (BMC) proved that he is still in decent condition when he posted the third best time.

Excellent performance by Costa

Sergei Chernetskii (Katusha) was just a few seconds slower when he made it into 4th but it was American Lawson Craddock who caught the attention when he slotted into second. At this point, however, it was clear that Costa was having a fabulous ride and even though he list a bit of time towards the end, he crossed the line in a time that was 13 seconds faster than Cancellara’s, dragging Janier Acevedo (Garmin) into the top 10 as well.

Pinot proved his progress by taking fifth while Cattaneo did another great TT by slotting into sixth. Moments later, the Swiss public celebrated their hero when Frank set the third pastest time.

Poor performance by Kreuziger and Mollema

Kreuziger could only make it into 14th while one of the outsiders, Ion Izagirre, had a fast start but had to settle for a provisional sixth. Mollema delivered a disappointing performance, setting the 18th fastest time.

Peter Sagan had a decent ride to finish 13th but all focus now was on Dumoulin and Martin who were the final two riders on the course. Despite being behind Costa at the second time check, Dumoulin set the best time, beating Costa by 6 seconds.

At this point, however, it was clear that only bad luck could deny Martin the win and he powered along the line to stop the clock in a time that was 22 seconds faster than Dumoulin’s, taking his fourth TT win of the season.