Tour de Suisse: Tony Martin extends lead with stage seven win as Sergio Henao crashes
Last Updated: 20/06/14 6:55pm
Tony Martin extended his lead of the Tour de Suisse with a supreme victory on stage seven’s individual time trial, but the day was marred by an accident involving Team Sky rider Sergio Henao.
Martin, the three-time world time trial champion, produced a peerless performance on a rolling 24.7km course to beat second-placed Tom Dumoulin by 22 seconds and third-placed Rui Costa by 28 seconds.
The result sees Martin (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) stretch his advantage over Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) at the top of the general classification from six seconds to 28, while Costa (Lampre-Merida) climbs from 16th overall to third, 1min 5sec back.
Henao was unable to start the stage after being in collision with a vehicle while warming up on the course. The Colombian was taken to hospital where it was confirmed he suffered a fractured patella.
When racing got under way, Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) led for much of the day, but his time of 32min 18sec was toppled when Costa went fastest at both intermediate splits and then beat the Swiss legend by 13 seconds at the finish line.
Dumoulin produced a fine display to knock Cancellara down into fourth, but neither his nor Costa's time could stand up to the charge of Martin, who was quickest at both splits and powered on to take his second stage win of the race and fifth of the season.
The German will now attempt to defend his slender lead on the final two stages of the race, but will have the odds stacked against him given that both end with summit finishes.
Stage seven result
1 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, 31:37
2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Shimano, +22secs
3 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida, +28
4 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing, +41
5 Mathias Frank (Swi) IAM Cycling, +45
6 Lawson Craddock (USA) Giant-Shimano, +59
7 Stef Clement (Ned) Belkin, +1:02
8 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Movistar, +1:06
9 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ, +1:13
10 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Lampre-Merida, 1:13
General classification
1 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, 23:42:43
2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Shimano, +28secs
3 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida, +1:05
4 Mathias Frank (Swi) IAM Cycling, +1:14
5 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Movistar, +1:33
6 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale, +1:36
7 Lawson Craddock (USA) Giant-Shimano, +1:42
8 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Lampre-Merida, same time
9 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale, +1:47
10 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ, +1:48
