UCI WorldTour: World Time Trial Champion Martin becomes first ever Tour of Beijing Champion.

UCI Press Release. Reigning World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin was able to celebrate his victory as the first ever winner of the Tour of Beijing on Sunday after holding the race lead from beginning to end.
The HTC-Highroad leader used his time trialling talents to gain an all but impregnable early advantage in the race. The German star claimed the  opening 11.3 kilometre race against the clock with a 17 second advantage over the man who took silver in the 2010 World Time Trial, Britain’s David Millar (Garmin-Cervélo). Millar’s compatriot Alex Dowsett, the first of three Sky ProCycling riders in the ranking,  claimed third at 24 seconds.

If Garmin-Cervélo were disappointed to miss out on victory, they bounced back in style the next day when they snapped up their first stage win in the 137 kilometre journey from the Bird’s Nest in Beijing Olympic Park to Men Tou Gou Cultural Square in a bunch sprint thanks to versatile fastman Heinrich Haussler. Martin, meanwhile, continued in the red jersey of leader.

Martin’s biggest challenge came in the extremely hilly third stage from Men Tou Gou to Yong Ning Town, featuring three first category climbs, two of them very late on the 162 kilometre stage.
Irish duo Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) and Philip Deignan (RadioShack) took off with gc challenger Chris Froome (Sky ProCycling) in the final section of climbing in a move that could have upset the overall.

Instead Martin and his HTC-Highroad troops fought back strongly, closing the gap to just one second at the finish line, with Roche claiming the stage win but gaining little advantage overall.
The fourth stage proved more dangerous than initially thought, with a big break going clear on stage four past the Great Wall to the Shunyi Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre.
A six-rider move including 2004 Giro d’Italia winner Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) gained nearly five minutes and forced HTC-Highroad to work extremely hard before the break was pulled back just eight kilometres from the finish.

“It took a long time to bring them back,” Martin admitted “and it was not so easy to control. But in the end everything was ok.”

The final stage from Tian An Men Square to Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium was slightly more predictable, concluding with a bunch sprint – won by Katusha’s Denis Galimzyanov – and Martin crowned the overall victor of the first ever Tour of Beijing.
Millar hung onto second, 17 seconds back, with Froome moving up to third thanks to his stage three attack, Galimzyanov taking the points jersey, Sky ProCycling the teams prize, Ben King (Team RadioShack) the Best Young Rider’s award and Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi) the King of the Mountains classification.

For Martin, victory in the Tour of Beijing is the German’s latest triumph in what has been his best year ever, with the overall win in Paris-Nice, and stage wins in the Vuelta al País Vasco, the Tour de France, the Criterium du Dauphiné and the Vuelta a España.
Following the final stage race of the WorldTour 2011, the final one-day race will be the Giro di Lombardia on Saturday October 15th. Featuring a new route, the Madonna del Ghisallo climb will continue to be in the race but following a new climb to Villa Vergano that will likely be decisive, the race  will finish in the town of Lecco.

The current overall leader of the rankings and winner of the last two editions of the Italian ‘Monument’, Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) is expected to race and if he does so will be one of the top favourites. Others include Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), Italians Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) and – fresh from his Chinese adventure in the Tour of Beijing – Damiano Cunego.

Photo from Tim de Waele – Podium David Millar – Tony Martin – Christopher Froome

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