Despite his excellent riding in the early part of the race, Tony Martin has been guarded about his overall prospects in the race. Going into the important time trial, he now makes it clear that he is targeting the GC and says that time gains are more important than the stage win.

Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Tony Martin once again kept himself in great position near the front in the yellow jersey — this time, at 183.5km Tour de Suisse Stage 6 on Thursday.

Despite attack after attack going into the final kilometers, including Peter Sagan (Cannondale) on the descent of the final categorized climb, Martin kept himself in position to chase down actions, and still save enough energy to lead out teammate Matteo Trentin. The German rider's leadout for Trentin was so strong going into the final kilometer that a six rider group had a gap on the field. While the rest of the peloton caught back on in time for the sprint, Trentin was still first wheel in the group and he launched from long distance. He held off the competition to the finish line.

Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo) was 2nd by about half a wheel. Francesco Gavazzi (Astana) was 3rd.

Trentin's win was his first individual victory of 2014. It was also the 41st overall win (39th road) for OPQS in 2014.

"I wanted to help my team who have done a really good job for me," Martin told Cyclismactu. "Matteo said he still had something left at the finish so I thought that I would lead him out. We were based here in Delemont last night so I had gone to check out the final kilometre."

Martin kept yellow due to his efforts, and he will defend his leadership at the 24.7km ITT. The three-time UCI World TT Champion has been focused on the time trials of Tour de Suisse, and will do his best on the undulating parcours.

"So far, everything has been going well and I still have the yellow jersey on the eve of the TT and the final weekend in the mountains," he said. "I still don't know the course for the TT. I will check it tomorrow morning but based on the profile it seems to be well suited to my qualities as are the last two stages. This is a Tour de Suisse route I really like. The goal is not to win the TT but to take as much time on my GC rivals as possible.

"I have shown that I can do well in all terrains. I've already won a mountain stage in the Tour of Switzerland, it was at the top of Crans-Montana (in 2009). I also won Paris - Nice (in 2011). As I said, it is a course that seems well suited to my qualities. If I can get enough time in tomorrow's TT, the climbs to Verbier and Saas-Fee should suit me."