Four days ago, ahead of the start of the Tour de Suisse in Lugano, HTC-Columbia's Tony Martin, said that he was "probably only going to focus on a stage or two and give it a go." Soon after saying that, a brilliant time trial left the German only 3 seconds off of Fabian Cancellara's lead immediately put Martin in a strong position overall. Two days later, Martin put in a masterful performance in the final circuit around Scwarzenburg to nick the leader's jersey off of Fabian Cancellara's square shoulders.
Tony Martin is writing a candid daily account of the Tour de Suisse for Germany's main cycling newssource, Radsport-News.com. He describes the second road stage as similar to the first in terms of how it played out - an early break went, established a sizable gap, but then, the gap grew to a more than comfortable 15 minutes and Martin thought that "the guys would pull it off." Soon after the gap reached fifteen minutes, "Omega Pharma-Lotto took control of the field and brought the gap down, until it was clear that the stage would be decided out of the main field."
The race came through the finish line before heading out for the final lap around Schwarzenburg. The first pass through was helpful for Martin: "I knew the finish already after the first pass through the finish, as well as the 11% climb with two kilometers remaining. I felt good on the first passage and knew that I could ride a good finale."
And so it was for last year's runner-up in the best young rider competition at the Tour de France.
"The team set me up perfectly for the final climb, and I attacked early. The climb was a bit longer than I thought though. I didn't want to risk a collapse over the top, so I dialed it back a bit. Right after that, Frank Schleck attacked, and right after I saw that we had a seven or eight man chase group as we came across the line without losing any time."
The best was yet to come for Martin though because, he noticed that "Fabian Cancellara and Roman Kreuziger weren't in the group anymore."
At that point, Martin's mind wasn't on the yellow jersey though. Martin continues: "After the finish, I wanted to ride straight to the bus, but then all of a sudden, I was supposed to go to the podium, where I was to receive the yellow jersey. That was really unexpected and surprising for me, but of course I'm really happy about it."
Now, the 25-year-old Martin has a one second lead over Cancellara with two stages tailor-made for the sprinters. Martin says that defending the jersey is a goal, but getting Cavendish in position to win a stage or two is also high on the to do list.
"We want to try to defend the jersey tomorrow. We will also ride for Cavendish though, because we've decided that tomorrow's profile should be a day for the sprinters. We will try to keep the field together for a mass sprint. And when the field finishes together, that will also help me in my defense of the yellow jersey. So either way, there will be a lot of work for us."
Martin admits that his goals at the Tour de Suisse are evolving, as he takes the start of Stage 4 in the leader's jersey: "The original idea was that I should use the Tour de Suisse to warm up for the Tour de France, but this is a great race, and I am very proud to lead. Therefor, I also have no intention to give away the jersey without a fight. I expect that the next two stages are for sprinters, but on the sixth stage on Thursday, there will be a big test."