HTC-Columbia’s Frantisek Rabon has moved into the overall lead of the Tour of Murcia in Spain thanks to a convincing victory in stage four’s individual time trial.

Rabon finished 33 seconds ahead of Russia’s Denis Menchov and 48 seconds ahead of Great Britain’s Bradley Wiggins in a flat 22 kilometre course at Alhama de Murcia. With just one stage of the Tour of Murcia remaining, HTC-Columbia’s Czech rider now leads by 38 seconds on Menchov and 53 on Wiggins.

The winner of the same time trial in Murcia in  2009, Rabon said later “my performance was pretty similar, but I think the big difference overall is that last year after winning the time trial I got dropped on the mountains the following day.This time we’ve already had the race’s most mountainous stage and I got through fine.”

“I was feeling confident because I’d done pretty well in my previous race, the Tour of the Algarve [in Portugal], where I was seventh overall. I was third last rider to start, which was an advantage because I had time references on advantage because I had time references on my rivals and knew when I had to go faster.” 

Rabon said the the time trial was “like last year’s course, just six kilometres longer, so my approach was almost the same.” As for the overall, Rabon is optimistic, because “although some of the other teams will try to attack me on the last stage, and of course it can be dangerous, but I’ve already shown I’m pretty strong in the climbs.”

“We’ve got a good team here, so if everything goes well I’ll be able to hold on.” goes well I’ll be able to hold on.”

Rabon’s victory in the Tour of Murcia is the tenth of the 2010 season for HTC-Columbia men's team.