Tour de France 2015: German Tony Martin wins fourth stage while Chris Froome maintains edge over rivals
German Tony Martin has ended a long wait to wear the Tour de France’s yellow leader’s jersey as Chris Froome maintained an edge on his main rivals.
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TONY Martin felt nothing but joy as he finally grabbed hold of the race leader’s yellow jersey with a brilliant solo victory on the Tour de France cobbled fourth stage.
The German three-time world time trial champion broke clear of a reduced peloton with 3.3km left on Tuesday and held off the charging pack to win by three seconds from John Degenkolb and Peter Sagan at the end of the 223.5km stage from Seraing to Cambrai.
That on its own would have been enough to snatch the yellow jersey, which he missed out on by a matter of seconds on each of the first three stages, from 2013 champion Chris Froome’s shoulders but he also took a 10 second time bonus on the line that gives him a 12 second buffer to Froome in the overall standings.
“Pure happiness! All the pressure and all the sadness from the last days has come off now,” said the German Etixx-Quick Step rider.
“It’s a really emotional day and stage for me, I’m super happy for that.
“Everything went well and I’m super happy for this team.
“They supported me so much, they always believed in me even after missing out these last days and fortunately I could pay it back.”
Froome now sits second with American Tejay Van Garderen third. Martin, 30, had spent the first three days in second place having lost out to Australian Rohan Dennis by five seconds in the opening stage time trial.
He ended the second stage three seconds behind Fabian Cancellara, who had taken a four second bonus on the line for finishing third.
Froome then finished second on the third stage to earn a six second bonus that left him just one second ahead of Martin.
But the daring German was not to be denied on Tuesday and made a typically brazen attack to secure a memorable victory that left him 12 seconds ahead of Froome and 25 seconds clear of Van Garderen.
Finally yellow!!! Believe & never give up & you will have success. Thnx to my mates of @Etixx_QuickStep (Fotos: Roth) pic.twitter.com/QqCRHFYgUi
— Tony Martin (@tonymartin85) July 7, 2015After a hectic last 50km, including 11.5km of cobbles across six sectors, the ‘fantastic four’ favourites of Froome, reigning champion Vincenzo Nibali, two-time winner Alberto Contador and Colombian Nairo Quintana all finished in the lead group of around 25 riders.
The big loser on the day, though, was French hope Thibaut Pinot, third overall last year.
He suffered a mechanical problem on the penultimate cobbled sector, had a tantrum and eventually lost around three minutes, leaving him six minutes back in total and with an uphill struggle to compete for a podium finish.
Australian Michael Matthews pushed through the pain barrier to finish the stage despite suffering severely bruised ribs in a mass pile-up on Monday’s stage 3.
“It was a really big struggle to get through today but I was able to have Pieter Weening around me,” Matthews said.
“I think my ribs jumped in and out of place a few times there.”
Matthews placed 190th from the 191 finishers and in a group of 40 riders at 16m 53s behind Martin.
Originally published as Tour de France 2015: German Tony Martin wins fourth stage while Chris Froome maintains edge over rivals
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