HTC-Columbia’s Tony Martin has moved into the lead of the Tour de Suisse following a tough final climb on stage three from Sierre to Schwarzenburg on Monday.

Martin made an attack halfway up the climb that shattered the field and finished tenth on the stage, three seconds behind winner Frank Schleck. Martin now leads by one second over Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland and nine seconds over Sweden’s Thomas Lovkvist.

“I was feeling really strong on the last stage and I realised the moment had come to attack,” Martin said later. “After a while, though, I didn’t feel quite as good and I decided to slow down and wait for the others to come back to me. I made sure I didn’t lose too much time in the last kilometre, not going full gas and trying to save a bit of strength for any late attacks.”

Second overall and a stage winner in last year’s Tour de Suisse, Martin says he will go all out to defend the lead.

“My initial idea was to come to Suisse mainly as part of my build-up for the Tour de France. But this is a very prestigious race, I’m very proud to be in the lead, and I’ve no intention of letting it go easily.

“The next two stages are more for the sprinters, it’s stage six on Thursday which will be the big test.”