Tony Martin pulled off one of the great solo wins of the Tour De France with victory in the ninth stage in Mulhouse.
A stage for the climbers with six climbs was in stall for the 184 riders on this 170 km stage from Gerardmer to Mulhouse.
The first climb came early and twenty three riders in Danny Pate (Sky), Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Joaquim Rodriguez and Simon Spilak (Katusha), Sergio Paulinho (Tinkoff), Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale), Laurens ten Dam (Belkin), Jan Bakelants (OPQS), Ben Gastauer (AG2R), Tom Dumoulin (Giant), Kristjan Durasek (Lampre), Arthur Vichot (FDJ), Tony Gallopin (Lotto), Amaël Moinard (BMC), Perrig Quémeneur, Cyril Gautier and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Dani Navarro and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Michael Albasini (Orica), Danilo Wyss (IAM), Leo König and José Mendes (NetApp) and Brice Feillu (Bretagne) were on the category two The Cote de la Schlucht climb which came after eleven kilometres and was 1.140m tall.
Tommy Voeckler of Europcar took the first King Of The Mountains points in a competition lead by Blel Kadri of AG2R following his solo victory.
The peloton quickly caught up to this break and Cannondale's Alessandro De Marchi and Tony Martin of Omega Pharma Quick Step seized this chance to get away.
Onto the category three Cote de Wettstein and De Marchi took the two points with one for Martin, some thirty five seconds ahead of a chasing group of 24 riders, which did not include Kadri.
On the D11 road, the gap had gone out to 1.34 from Martin and De Marchi to eight persurers in Spilak, Montaguti, Van Avermaet, Rolland, Quémeneur, Navarro, Edet, and Machado and then a group of nineteen which featured Rojas (Movistar), Rodriguez (Katusha), Paulinho (Tinkoff), Koren (Cannondale), Boom and Kruijswijk (Belkin), Chérel (AG2R), Dumoulin (Giant), Valls (Lampre), Ladagnous (FDJ), Gallopin (Lotto), Moinard (BMC), Gautier, Pichot, and Reza (Europcar), Cancellara (Trek), Meier (Orica), Chavanel (IAM), and Feillu and Bideau (Bretagne).and then the peloton who were 2.04 adrift.
The two chasing groups joined together to form a group of 28 before Lars Boom went after Martin and De Marchi, who had a lead of 3.05 on the peloton as they took on the category three Cote des Cinq Chateaux climb with 100kms to go.
De Marchi again took the points as the gap to the peloton went out to 4.23 on a rainy day.
After the feedzone at Hattstatt, the next climb was the category 2 Côte de Gueberschwihr which was a climb of gradient of 7.9kms and 4.1kms long and De Marchi, who had a problem with his left hand, added another five points to his tally as the road moved onto the D40 heading for the sprint on the D430 road in Linthal.
Tony Gallopin of Lotto, some 3.27 down on GC, was now the virtual leader on the road as the gap to the peloton went out to 6.10.
Tony Martin took the sprint points and set off for the Le Markstein climb which was the first category one climb of the 101st Tour.
The German was 45 seconds ahead of De Marchi, 2.34 ahead of hte chasing group and 7.05 ahead of the yellow jersey with 55.1kms left.
Martin took the the Markstein climb and the category three Grand Ballon climb with 43kms left to give himself the King Of The Mountains jersey. Katusha's Joaquim Rodriquez took the other point.
With thirty kilometres left, Martin who was time-trialing his way down the D431 was 8.15 ahead of the peloton.
Into Wittelsheim, amidst big crowds and Martin was three minutes clear of Tony Gallopin who had been joined by Cherel from AG2R and eight minutes ahead of the peloton.
Egoitz Garcia (Cofidis) abandoned as Martin, looking calm and collected rode on to the D191.
The sun came out as Gallopin and Cheral were caught by the persurers, who now 3.07 down on Tony Martin who was heading towards Lutterbach in the Haut-Rhin department.
Martin was given a low five by his team's DS as he flew through Lutterbach and then onto to D20 heading for Mulhouse and the finish line on the Rue de la Mertzau, at the end of a 500m long finishing straight.
The crowds were cheering Martin on as he took the final bends and then coasted to the finish line to win in 4.09.34 to make it five victories for German riders in nine stages in this year's race.
Two minutes and forty eight seconds later, Fabian Cancellera lead in the chasing group which included Tony Gallopin who took over as the leader of the race, with Avermaet third and Tom Dumoulin fourth.
The peloton came in some 7.48 down and means that Gallopin leads the race from Nibali by 1.34.
"The feeling was incredible and i knew when i was told three minutes I knew could win it without feeling any pain," said Tony Martin.
"I did not want to play any silly games and i decided to go on my own for the last 50/60kms.
"There was so many German flags and people motivating me, shotung my name and it was so good to win."