Etixx – Quick-Step rider Tony Martin dominated the 45km German National Time Trial Championship on Friday, winning his 5th gold medal in the event with a time of 52 minutes and 10 seconds (51.74km/h). Martin, also a three-time UCI World Champion, was 2’10” faster than 2nd place finisher Nikias Arndt, and 2’58” faster than Stefan Schumacher.
The course, which wasn’t techncal and was mostly flat, included three laps of 15km apiece. Martin hasn’t given up the German National TT Champion jersey since 2012. Martin’s victory is the 32nd on the road for Etixx – Quick-Step in the 2015 season.
“I am very happy to have won this race,” Martin said. “This is the 5th title for me, so being able to wear this jersey at the Tour de France to represent this is also something special. As for the parcours, it was flat and simple. But to me it was really good because it was kind of a last test prior to the opening time trial of Le Tour in Utrecht. After Dauphine I was a little tired, and didn’t train as I wanted to. I didn’t know exactly what I coud expect from this race, so I have to say I am satisfied with the feeling I had on the bike today. In the race I really felt good. I started quite strong because to me it was also a question of simulating the TT effort of Utrecht. Then, when they told me I had a good margin on the second intermediate point, I continued to push until the end to see how good the feeling really was. In function of Utrecht I think this was a really good race for both my legs and my morale. Also, when you are on your time trial bike for 45 kilometers, it always important to have a good setup. The setup of my Specialized Shiv was perfect. It will be the same as next week at Le Tour. Tomorrow I will analyze my effort again and see how I can further tune up my condition before next Saturday. That is why I won’t ride on Sunday in the German National Road Championship. I want to do specific and quality training prior to the Tour de France.”
Yves Lampaert also earned a silver medal in the Belgian National Time Trial Championships. He finished 42″ down in the 49.2km ITT on new national champion Jurgen Van den Broeck. Kristoff Vandewalle (Trek Factory Racing) was 3rd, 1’07” down.
Petr Vakoc took home the bronze medal in the Czech Republic National TT Championship on Friday. He finished 1’44” down on Jan Barta’s fastest time of 46 minutes and 42 seconds along the 38.6km parcours. Leopold Konig (Tean Sky) earned silver, finishing 45″ down.
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