The first Dubai Tour started with a individual time trial over 10 kilometers today. UCI World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin was one of the favorites for the stage win.
Martin finished the time trial after 12 minutes and 25 seconds. He started as one of the last riders out of the main contenders, while some started much earlier in comparison. He finished 22 seconds back from stage winner Taylor Phinney (BMC), earning a 4th place victory.
"First of all I felt really good," Martin said. "I made a good race. When I saw the data on the clock it was quite OK. The result at the end, I don't want to say it's the reason of circumstances, but I wish we had all started at the same time — all of the main contenders — to have a realistic result. But I had to start at the end, so OK. I did my best and considering the situation I think it was really OK. Congratulations to Taylor Phinney as it was a strong race for him and he deserved the victory."
