Tony Martin wins time trials. That’s his thing. Last year, when Bradley Wiggins won gold at the World Championships, he looked very, very unhappy on the second step of the podium. It was widely assumed that he would come back this year and set things straight. It was therefore somewhat surprising that he came seventh.
Martin himself couldn’t really explain it. The best he could come up with was that it was so fast on a tailwind section that he ‘couldn’t handle the RPM’ – which presumably means he was going too fast for the gearing on his bike. Only Tony Martin could fail to win a time trial because he was going too fast.
It was a long time trial and as we’ve said before, Vasil Kiryienka is the man to maintain an impossible-to-maintain-pace for greater distances. The man after whom the FDJ team’s training scooter is named duly won. Italian Adriano Malori was second with Jerome Coppel third. Tom Dumoulin was the other disappointment, coming fifth, but we can blame that on being cream crackered after the Vuelta.
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