After winning the prologue of the Tour of Beijng in his new rainbow stripes jersey on Wednesday, HTC-HIghroad's Tony Martin was able to defend the lead for the rest of the week and win the overall classification of the race on Sunday.

Taking a 17 second lead on day one over David Millar gave the team a good buffer for the week ahead and Sport Director Allan Peiper was always confident that the team could defend it.
“With 17 seconds and no bonifications on the road I knew we had a good chance,” said Peiper. “

“The team raced really well and were always on top of things when they needed to be,” he added. “It’s been a really nice race and I’m proud of the way the guys gave everything right up to the very end of the season.”

The win was HTC-Highroad's 120th win for the season.

For Martin, winning his first tour since being crowned World Time Trial Champion was something special. “Putting on the rainbow jersey was really nice and gave me a lot of confidence coming into this race. I knew I still had good form and I had a really strong team to back me up. I’m really happy that it all worked out.”

Martin will return to Europe for Chrono de Nations, his last race before ending his season and another chance to wear his World Championship stripes.