Tony Martin, Vuelta a Espana, stage six
Not all attacks have to end in stage victory to make their propagator a hero – just ask world time trial champion Tony Martin. Although more revered for his ability against the clock, the German ace has shown he is also fond of a daring attack too and such a display was never more evident than during the sixth stage of this year’s Vuelta. The Panzerwagen attacked almost from the off during the 205.9km stage, and backed by a tailwind found himself alone up front, with a lead of more than seven minutes, after just 26km of racing.
He described his day up front as an ‘unusual time trial of almost four hours’, but whatever it was, the strength he displayed certainly did justice to his nickname. With 15km remaining his day-long outing in front appeared to be at an end as the peloton gradually wound him in until his lead stood at just 15 seconds. It was cut again within the next two kilometres to single digits. However, the German dug deep and was still clear – albeit by just six seconds now – as they passed under the flamme rouge. However, with the peloton bearing down on him it proved to be a heart-breaking finale for Martin, as he was caught by the bunch with just 30m of the stage remaining, allowing Saxo-Tinkoff’s Michael Morkov to snatch victory instead.
