Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) won the opening stage time trial in the 2014 Tour de Suisse on Saturday.
It being an individual time trial, reigning world champion Martin was the favourite to win the stage, even if at only 9.4 kilometres the length was considerably shorter than the long efforts against the clock that are the German's particularly speciality.
Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) finished second, with Rohan Dennis (Garmin) in third.
Fearing bad weather later on, the teams sent out their best riders earlier on then usual, which gave the day a slightly topsy-turvy feel with all the quickest times being posted early on.
One such rider was Bradley Wiggins (Sky), but the Briton failed to produce as good a time as was hoped and expected from him. He crossed the line as sixth fastest, and, by the time every rider had finished, stood a disappointing 14th in the day’s standings, a whole 32 seconds behind Martin. Sky team-mate and fellow Brit Peter Kennaugh fared better, finishing 11th, at 29 seconds.
Britain’s Alex Dowsett (Movistar), meanwhile, went off like a rocket and posted the quickest time at the first split, but the hilly nature of the course slowed him down and he slid to 56th.
Peter Sagan was the early leader with a time of 14-07, but his time was soon beaten by Garmin’s Rohan Dennis, who seems to have carried his good form from the Tour of California.
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The major time trial specialists were still to arrive however, and though home favourite Fabian Cancellara (Trek) posted a time three seconds slower, Martin sped up drastically in the second half of the course to take a whole 13 seconds out of Australian Dennis.
Dumoulin pushed his time close and was neck and neck at the first time check, but couldn’t match the German’s pace in the second half of the course and ultimately finished second.
Of the favourites for the general classification, Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r) was just an impressive nineteen seconds down, Bauke Mollema (Belkin) at 22 seconds, Roman Kreuziger at 33 seconds, Mathias Frank at 34 seconds, Thibaut Pinot at 40 seconds and Rui Costa at a disappointing 42 seconds.
Result Tour de Suisse 2014, stage one: Bellinzona 9.4km 1. Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-Quick Step in 13-48
2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Shimano at 0-06
3. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Garmin-Sharp at 0-13
4. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek at 0-16
5. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r at 0-19
6. Peter Sagan (Slo) Cannondale at st
7. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin at 0-22
8. Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Belkin at 0-23
9. Jon Izagirre (Spa) Movistar at 0-27
10. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Lampre-Merida at 0-29
Other
11. Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky at 0-29
14. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky at 0-32
60. Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar at 0-55
Overall Classification after stage one 1. Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-Quick Step in 13-48
2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Shimano at 0-06
3. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Garmin-Sharp at 0-13
4. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek at 0-16
5. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r at 0-19
6. Peter Sagan (Slo) Cannondale at st
7. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin at 0-22
8. Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Belkin at 0-23
9. Jon Izagirre (Spa) Movistar at 0-27
10. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Lampre-Merida at 0-29
Tony Martin on the podium after winning Stage One of the 2014 Tour of Switzerland
(Image credit: Graham Watson)
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Stephen Puddicombe is a freelance journalist for Cycling Weekly, who regularly contributes to our World Tour racing coverage with race reports, news stories, interviews and features. Outside of cycling, he also enjoys writing about film and TV - but you won't find much of that content embedded into his CW articles.
