Saxo Bank's Michael Morkov prevented Tony Martin from taking one of the greatest ever Grand Tour victories, when the Dane pipped the German to win the sixth stage of the 68th Vuelta a España.
Omega Pharma Quick Step's Tony Martin shot off after the flag dropped and had a lead of over seven minutes, on this 177.3km stage from Guijuelo to Cáceres.
Martin, the World Time Trial champion, completed 46 kilometres in the first hour and on a route first used by the Romans to link the gold mines of Las Medulas and the copper mines at Rio Tinto, the German, who went into the day more than thirty minutes behind the race leader Vincenzo Nibali, showed no signs of giving up and dropping back to the peloton.
With seventy kilometres remaining, Martin, who took the first and second sprints, was four minutes clear.
Despite suffering from saddle sores, Martin had a 1.15 lead going into the final 25 kilometres on a atage where there were no climbs and meant that King Of The Mountains leader Nicholas Roche kept his jersey for another day.
Martin stayed away until the riders reached Cáceres. The peloton came into sight with four to go but Martin in a herculean effort kept going.
He extended his lead by two seconds to nine seconds as Argos Shimano got on the front of the peloton.
Under the flam rouge, Tony Martin kept the hammer down but with twenty metres to go, he was passed by Saxo Bank's Michael Morkov who won a time of 3.54.15 with an average speed of 44.6km/h ahead of Max Richeze (Lampre-Merida), Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp).
Morkov told La Vuelta.com: "I felt good in the last ten kilometers. I realized I had some kick left. It was a question of positioning in the field. I found the right spot behind Cancellara who did a long sprint and I used this kick with 200 metres to go. I had this amazing feeling that I could probably win. Indeed, it’s very special to make it."
Tony Martin said: “I wasn’t trying to win the stage. I wanted to work hard for the world championship. I attacked from the gun hoping that two, three or four riders would come with me but nobody followed. As I was alone, I just had to wait and make a good finale.
"On the way, I thought: if I win, it’s great, if not, it’s a good training and we had Gianni Meersman in the peloton going for the bunch sprint. Maybe in the last ten kilometres, I’ve had in mind the possibility of winning. "I was hoping a little bit but I knew it’d be hard because the very end was slightly uphill. I gave it a try and it was a good day at the end. Was it Fabian Cancellara pulling behind me? Well, as I often say, the boomerang always comes back.”
Vincenzo Nibali retains his red leader's jersey.
Pictures copyright of Unipublic/Graham Watson