The German Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) is the winner of the 39th Volta ao Algarve, repeating the triumph he had already achieved in 2011. The German showed why he is twice world champion in time trial, imposing himself in the individual exercise of 34,8 .XNUMX kilometers, between Castro Marim and Tavira, with which the Algarve competition ended today.
Tony Martin completed the selective and technical course in 45m09s, at an average of 44,903 km/h.
Second place was Polish Michal Kwiatkowski, who spent 1m07s more than the winner and teammate. New Zealander Jesse Sergent (RadioShack-Leopard) was third, at 1m15s.
Colombian Sergio Henao, who started with a yellow jersey on his body, did not go beyond the 14th time in the time trial, dropping to 12th overall.
In the individual overall, Tony Martin finished 58 seconds ahead of Michal Kwiatkowski, second placed, and 59 seconds ahead of third, Dutchman Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM).
“It's my second victory in four appearances in the Volta ao Algarve. The time trial route was very technical and the floor was not completely dry. I had to give everything to win this triumph, which was not easy”, said Tony Martin, before stepping up to the podium for the just recognition.
The Portuguese were in a good plan. Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Leopard) was the best in the run, in seventh place, 1m47s behind the winner.
Rui Costa (Movistar) was eighth with the same time. In the individual general, the positions were reversed. The best Portuguese was Rui Costa, fifth, at 1m26s, while Tiago Machado was sixth, at 1m30s.
“I hit the winner of yesterday's stage, the winner of today's stage. I expected Tony Martin to win. I fought to get the best result possible and not to be the best Portuguese. The Volta ao Algarve was a good test. For the future, we must work more on the time trial”, declared Rui Costa.
Tiago Machado already stated that he “knows the course of the time trial, which was the same as in 2009. I was in the fight until the end, I wanted to do better, but the competition was stronger”, he concluded.
RadioShack-Leopard won by teams and won the classification on points, through the Italian Giacomo Nizzolo. Another transalpine, Manuele Boaro (Saxo-Tinkoff), was crowned king of climbers. Hugo Sabido (LA Alumínios-Atarte) was the only representative of the Portuguese teams on the podium, winning the jersey of the flying goals.
Classifications
4th Stage: Castro Marim – Tavira, 34,8 km (C/R)
1st Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), 45m09s
2nd Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) 46m16s
3rd Jesse Sergent (RadioShack-Leopard), 46m24s
4th Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM), 46m25s
5th Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), 46m39s
6th Denis Menchov (Katusha), 46m41s
7th Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Leopard), 46m56s
8th Rui Costa (Movistar), 46m56s
9th Andreas Klöden (RadioShack-Leopard), 47m13s
10. Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Leopard), 47m41s
General Individual
1st Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), 15h36m26s
2th Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), 58s
3rd Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM), at 59s
4th Denis Menchov (Katusha), at 1m21s
5th Rui Costa (Movistar), at 1m26s
6th Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Leopard), at 1m30s
7th Jesse Sergent (RadioShack-Leopard), at 1m40s
8th Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), at 1m45s
9th Andreas Klöden (RadioShack-Leopard), at 1m53s
10th Rigoberto Urán (Sky), at 2m31s
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