Yellow jersey Chris Froome (Team Sky) was the only one to threaten Tony Martin on today’s ITT. He was ahead of the German at the intermediate time checks, but ultimately finished 12 seconds down on the stage winner.

Froome said that the headwind on the final kilometres broke his speed: “I think I started blowing up in those last couple of kilometres when I came into the headwind in the final. I just struggled to keep that same momentum going. Tony Martin fully deserves that stage win; he's an amazing time trial rider. My main target today was to extend my lead on the other GC rivals so I'm also really happy with my performance today.”

The Kenyan-born Briton now holds a lead of 3:25 minutes over second-placed Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), but he is adamant that the race isn’t over yet: “I’m really happy with today’s result. It was one of my best time trials, certainly. I’ve got to take it as the way the general classification is, and look at Valverde as my biggest competitor at the moment. If last weekend is anything to go by, I think I’m going to need every second I can get at this stage. It's still a long way to go but I’m happy with the advantage that I've got at the moment.”

After losing more than 18 minutes on the last stage in the Pyrénées, Richie Porte returned to strength with a fourth-place finish, 1:09 minutes behind his teammate Froome. And the overall leader was happy to see that: “Morale is great within the team and it's great to see Richie [Porte] doing alright today, that's him just saying, ‘Listen guys, I’m not out of this race – I’m still here and right at the front!’”