Tony Martin was the 11th of 197 riders to leave the Tour de France prologue start ramp in Rotterdam, Netherlands, today. As an early starter, it is not hard to set a new time. But everyone knew that Martin's 10'10, beating the previous best of Brent Bookwalter by 25 seconds over the 8.9km course, was going to last for a long time, if not until the end of day.
It literally was the end of the day, because only Fabian Cancellara, the next to last rider at 19:31 local time, was able to slip past Martin in the end. The gap was also large, ten seconds to be precise.
Martin looked tense when riders came close to his time, then he smiled when yet another rider was unable to beat his benchmark. Sitting in the hot seat all day was not easy for the HTC Columbia rider. "It was a long wait. I'm glad I had my girlfriend there with me to calm me down." She was also there when Martin realized that Cancellara had beaten him.
With a quick kiss on the cheek, she made sure that Martin didn't have to stay depressed for too long. After all, he won the white jersey for the best young rider and if he can stay consistent in the mountains, he even has a chance of taking it to Paris, unless team orders see him sacrifice that personal goal for the team's aim to win the yellow jersey with Michael Rogers.
Martin will still regret the missed opportunity a little bit. "I felt good in the race and it was tense watching all the others come in, wondering if I had done enough. In the end, Fabian was better. That's how it happens sometimes."
For the team all looks good, though and that is something Martin treasures as well. "We're in a good position, we have a prize and I'm well placed in the general classification. I came close today and I'm pleased with that but it would have been great to have the yellow jersey."
Now Martin will be out of the limelight for a little bit, as the sprinters take over center stage. "The team has the fastest man in the world and Mark [Cavendish] is in great condition. I missed out on the win today but perhaps we can get one tomorrow."