Tony Martin Wins Stage 20 Time Trial
Tony Martin claimed stage 20 of the Tour de France today, with the fastest time in today’s individual time trial.
Meanwhile, race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) put in an excellent performance to defend his overall lead.
Stage Highlights
Team Sky’s Danny Pate set the early best time in the 54 kilometer event from Bergerac to Périgueux. However, his time was later eclipsed by the the world time trial champion – who set the fast time of 1:06:21 – that would serve to hold.
"I felt quite good ,” said Martin. “I thought I was more tired. I managed to keep a good tempo from start to finish, I didn’t falter, I’m glad about my performance.
“It’s true I knew the course well and I had to wait for two weeks to get there. Luckily I had won a stage already so it eased the pressure.”
Samuel Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) took second place at 1:39 back, with Jan Barta (Team NetApp-Endura) in third at 1:47.
Nibali, meanwhile, hit the line in fourth at 1:58, confirming his dominance with only one stage remaining.
Jean-Christophe Péraud (Ag2r La Mondiale), experienced a puncture with 20 kilometers remaining. However, a quick bike change still netted him a top-seven finish.
At the conclusion of today’s stage, Péraud nixed Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) from his second place position in the GC.
Pinot began the stage in the number 2 spot at 7:10 behind the leader. However, after finishing in 11th place today – he slipped to third overall.
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), who began the day in fourth place overall at 7:25, held onto his fourth place slot in the GC, but fell to 9:55 behind Nibali.
Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) crossed the line at 1:08:29, which was good enough to net the American rider sixth place – moving him into fifth overall at 11:44 – two seconds ahead of Bardet.
“It definitely feels good to move up one place. I feel like I worked hard for this fifth place,” said van Garderen, who said he felt badly about Bardet’s unfortunate puncture.”
Stage 20 Results
GER 1 MARTIN, Tony (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) 1:06:21 NED 2 DUMOULIN, Tom (GIANT-SHIMANO) + 1:39 CZE 3 BARTA, Jan (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 1:47 ITA 4 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) + 1:58 CZE 5 KONIG, Leopold (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 2:02 USA 6 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 2:08 FRA 7 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 2:27 FRA 8 CHAVANEL, Sylvain (IAM CYCLING) + 2:36 ESP 9 IRIZAR ARANBURU, Markel (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 2:39 ITA 10 OSS, Daniel (BMC RACING) + 2:58 USA 11 PATE, Danny (SKY) + 3:01 FRA 12 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ.fr) + 3:12 SUI 13 ELMIGER, Martin (IAM CYCLING) POL 14 BODNAR, Maciej (CANNONDALE) + 3:13 CAN 15 TUFT, Svein (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 3:23 SVK 16 VELITS, Peter (BMC RACING) + 3:24 POR 17 SANTOS SIMOES OLIVEIRA, Nelson Filipe (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 3:30 EST 18 KANGERT, Tanel (ASTANA) + 3:35 AUS 19 DURBRIDGE, Luke (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 3:38 NED 20 WESTRA, Lieuwe (ASTANA) + 3:44 ESP 21 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 3:45 ESP 22 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Jon (MOVISTAR) + 4:00 UKR 23 GRIVKO, Andriy (ASTANA) + 4:05 LAT 24 SMUKULIS, Gatis (KATUSHA) + 4:06 ITA 25 VISCONTI, Giovanni (MOVISTAR) + 4:15 FRA 26 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 4:17 POR 27 PIMENTA COSTA MENDES, José Joao (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 4:23 ESP 28 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 4:28 FRA 29 ROY, Jérémy (FDJ.fr) + 4:30 ESP 30 HERRADA LOPEZ, Jesus (MOVISTAR) + 4:31 EST 31 TAARAMAE, Rein (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 4:41 ESP 32 ERVITI OLLO, Imanol (MOVISTAR) + 4:44 KAZ 33 GRUZDEV, Dmitriy (ASTANA) + 4:56 GBR 34 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 5:01 FRA 35 VACHON, Florian (BRETAGNE – SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 5:06 BEL 36 VAN SUMMEREN, Johan (GARMIN SHARP) + 5:11 FRA 37 LADAGNOUS, Matthieu (FDJ.fr) + 5:13 RUS 38 ISAICHEV, Vladimir (KATUSHA) FRA 39 DELAPLACE, Anthony (BRETAGNE – SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 5:16 ESP 40 INTXAUSTI ELORRIAGA, Benat (MOVISTAR)
General Classification after Stage 20 ITA 1 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) 86:37:52 FRA 2 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 7:52 FRA 3 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ.fr) + 8:24 ESP 4 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 9:55 USA 5 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 11:44 FRA 6 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 11:46 CZE 7 KONIG, Leopold (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 14:41 ESP 8 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 18:12 NED 9 TEN DAM, Laurens (BELKIN) + 18:20 NED 10 MOLLEMA, Bauke (BELKIN) + 21:24 FRA 11 ROLLAND, Pierre (EUROPCAR) + 23:16 LUX 12 SCHLECK, Frank (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 25:57 BEL 13 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen (LOTTO BELISOL) + 34:01 RUS 14 TROFIMOV, Yury (KATUSHA) + 36:50 NED 15 KRUIJSWIJK, Steven (BELKIN) + 38:15 FRA 16 FEILLU, Brice (BRETAGNE – SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 43:59 USA 17 HORNER, Christopher (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 44:46 ESP 18 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) + 46:40 FRA 19 GADRET, John (MOVISTAR) + 47:30 EST 20 KANGERT, Tanel (ASTANA) + 52:11
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