GRENOBLE, France, June 8, 2011 (AFP) – Germany’s Tony Martin of the HTC-Highroad team took the third stage of the Criterium du Dauphine, a 42.5km time-trial in Grenoble on Wednesday.

Martin finished 11 seconds ahead of Britain’s Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky who takes the overall lead, over a minute ahead of the Australian Cadel Evans (BMC).

Heavy rain had left parts of the course wet and slippery, but the demanding conditions failed to stop Martin.

The 26-year-old, who also won the time trials in the Paris-Nice in March and the Tour of the Basque Country in April, ripped up the circuit at an average of 46kph, just edging out the Briton.

Martin said: “I’m happy, I did a good time. This is a great test for the Tour de France, for my actual condition as well as for this race.

“The weather was tricky, you had to take care.

“In the Tour de France I’m aiming for a top ten overall finish.”

The Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen, Wiggins’ Sky teammate, finished third over 30 seconds behind Wiggins with another time-trial specialist, the American David Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervelo), chasing down his tail in fourth.

Evans came in sixth, 19 seconds behind the Slovenian Janez Brajkovic (Team RadioShack) and over a minute behind Martin.

Wiggins now has a 1 min 11 sec lead over Evans who is another 10 seconds in front of Brajkovic.

The Briton said: “Today, this was really my specialty. The two mountain stages coming up at the weekend are stages on the Tour de France so they’ll be a real test for me.

“My aim in this race is to get on the podium, for the moment I’m in yellow and in good condition.”

The overnight leader Alexander Vinokourov slipped back to fourth in the overall standings, the Astana rider losing over two minutes on the time-trial.

The same route will be used for the penultimate stage of the Tour de France on July 23.

Thursday’s fourth stage of the Dauphine will cover the 173.5km from La Motte-Servolex to Macon.

Stage Results:
1. Tony Martin (GER/HTC) 55min 27sec
2. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) at 0:11sec
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 0:43
4. David Zabriskie (USA/GRM) 0:58
5. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 1:17
6. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 1:20
7. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 1:36
8. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 1:37
9. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 1:56
10. Rui Alberto Costa (POR/MOV) 2:00
11. Kanstantsin Siutsou (BLR/HTC) 2:02
12. Adriano Malori (ITA/LAM) 2:04
13. Jérome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 2:08
14. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 2:18
15. Ben Hermans (BEL/RSH) 2:26
16. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 2:38
17. Jürgen Van den Broeck (BEL/OLO) 2:39
18. Rigoberto Uran (COL/SKY) 2:41
19. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 2:43
20. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 2:43
21. Christophe Kern (FRA/EUC) 2:45
Selected
23. Robert Gesink (NED/RAB) 2:49
43. Nicolas Roche (EIR/ALM) 3:31
45. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/RAB) 3:38
59. Joaquin Rodriguez (ESP/KAT) 3:54
90. Daniel Martin (EIR/GRM) 4:52
135. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 6:16
175. Oscar Pujol (ESP/OLO) 10:26

Overall
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 8hr41min 37sec
2. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) at 1:11
3. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 1:21
4. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 1:56
5. Rui Alberto Costa (POR/MOV) 2:12
6. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 2:25
7. Jürgen Van den Broeck (BEL/OLO) 2:28
8. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 2:45
9. Ben Hermans (BEL/RSH) 2:46
10. Jérome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 2:52
11. Kanstantsin Siutsou (BLR/HTC) 2:52
12. Christophe Kern (FRA/EUC) 3:14
13. Jean Christophe Péraud (FRA/ALM) 3:18
14. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 3:19
15. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 3:23
16. Nicolas Roche (EIR/ALM) 3:26
17. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 3:53
18. David Moncoutié (FRA/COF) 3:54
19. Joaquin Rodriguez (ESP/KAT) 3:55
20. Rob Ruygh (NED/VAC) 3:55
Selected
24. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 4:15
28. Robert Gesink (NED/RAB) 4:56
32. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 5:05
90. Tony Martin (GER/HTC) 10:09
94. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 10:41
100. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/RAB) 11:43
118. Daniel Martin (EIR/GRM) 13:40
175. Vitaliy Kondrut (UKR/LAM) 26:41