Paris-Nice Stage 6: Tony Martin powers into race lead, Bradley Wiggins up to third overall

Tony Martin of HTC-Highroad is the latest leader of Paris-Nice after powering through today’s 27km time trial from Rognes to Aix-en-Provence to take the yellow jersey. Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins put in the second quickest time, 20 seconds down on Martin’s 33’24” and rises to third in the general classification with two stages left to race, while Saxo Bank-SunGard’s Richie Porte finished third.

Wiggins now lies 39 seconds behind Martin in the overall standings, but only three seconds behind the man who started the day in the yellow jersey, Andreas Kloden.

The RadioShack rider, winner of yesterday’s Stage 5, had limited his losses well at the intermediate time check, which he reached six seconds down on Martin and two on Wiggins, the fastest two men at that point.

However, he was unable to maintain the pace he had set himself and lost 20 seconds to the new race leader on the second half of the course to finish behind Porte, while Wiggins in fact picked up two seconds on the way to the line.

Another Team Sky rider, Geraint Thomas, had set the early pace but his time of 35’24” ended up being only the 23rd fastest of the day.

With plenty of climbing still to come in the final two stages this weekend, there’s still plenty of scope for a further shake-up in the overall standings, with the likes of Samuel Sanchez, who had started today in second place but lost 1’40”, looking to recoup their losses.

Tomorrow’s Stage 7 covers 215km from Brignoles Biot to Sophia Antipolis, while Sunday’s final Stage 8 follows a 125km route that starts and finishes in Nice.

Paris-Nice Stage 6 Result 
1   MARTIN Tony            HTC - HIGHROAD               33' 24"
2   WIGGINS Bradley        SKY PROCYCLING             + 00' 20"
3   PORTE Richie           SAXO BANK SUNGARD          + 00' 29"
4   KLÖDEN Andréas         TEAM RADIOSHACK            + 00' 46"
5   PERAUD Jean-Christophe AG2R LA MONDIALE           + 00' 55"
6   WESTRA Lieuwe          VACANSOLEIL-DCM            + 00' 57"
7   TALANSKY Andrew        TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO      + 01' 05"
8   TAARAMAE Rein          COFIDIS                    + 01' 10"
9   LEIPHEIMER Levi        TEAM RADIOSHACK            + 01' 10"
10  VAN GARDEREN Tejay     HTC - HIGHROAD             + 01' 29"
11  VINOKOUROV Alexandre   PRO TEAM ASTANA            + 01' 29"
12  BRAJKOVIC Janez        TEAM RADIOSHACK            + 01' 32"
13  MOLLEMA Bauke          RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM      + 01' 38"
14  SANCHEZ Luis-Leon      RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM      + 01' 40"
15  DE GENDT Thomas        VACANSOLEIL-DCM            + 01' 43"
16  SANCHEZ Samuel         EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI        + 01' 43"
17  DEVOLDER Stijn         VACANSOLEIL-DCM            + 01' 47"
18  SIVTSOV Kanstantsin    HTC - HIGHROAD             + 01' 49"
19  TONDO Xavier           MOVISTAR TEAM              + 01' 51"
20  GERDEMANN Linus        TEAM LEOPARD-TREK          + 01' 55"

23  THOMAS Geraint         SKY PROCYCLING             + 02' 00"
150 LLOYD Daniel           TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO      + 05' 48"
158 HUNT Jérémy            SKY PROCYCLING             + 06' 29"

Overall Standings after Stage 6 
1   MARTIN Tony            HTC - HIGHROAD           24h 59' 47"
2   KLÖDEN Andréas         TEAM RADIOSHACK            + 00' 36"
3   WIGGINS Bradley        SKY PROCYCLING             + 00' 39"
4   TAARAMAE Rein          COFIDIS                    + 01' 10"
5   PERAUD Jean-Christophe AG2R LA MONDIALE           + 01' 14"
6   LEIPHEIMER Levi        TEAM RADIOSHACK            + 01' 29"
7   BRAJKOVIC Janez        TEAM RADIOSHACK            + 01' 32"
8   SANCHEZ Samuel         EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI        + 01' 37"
9   TONDO Xavier           MOVISTAR TEAM              + 01' 51"
10  MOLLEMA Bauke          RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM      + 01' 57"
11  SANCHEZ Luis-Leon      RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM      + 01' 58"
12  PORTE Richie           SAXO BANK SUNGARD          + 02' 05"
13  ROGERS Michael         SKY PROCYCLING             + 02' 17"
14  MONFORT Maxime         TEAM LEOPARD-TREK          + 02' 22"
15  CARRARA Matteo         VACANSOLEIL-DCM            + 02' 28"
16  SCHLECK Frank          TEAM LEOPARD-TREK          + 02' 30"
17  KISERLOVSKI Robert     PRO TEAM ASTANA            + 02' 31"
18  VAN GARDEREN Tejay     HTC - HIGHROAD             + 03' 05"
19  SORENSEN Chris         SAXO BANK SUNGARD          + 03' 07"
20  KREUZIGER Roman        PRO TEAM ASTANA            + 03' 09"

131 THOMAS Geraint         SKY PROCYCLING             + 40' 44"
142 LLOYD Daniel           TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO      + 44' 32"
156 HUNT Jérémy            SKY PROCYCLING             + 52' 41"