HTC-Highroad’s Tony Martin took his fifth win of the 2011 season on Saturday when he powered to victory in the final stage of the Tour of the Basque Country.

The 2011 Tour of the Algarve and Paris-Nice winner was nine seconds faster than Germany’s Andreas Klöden in the 24 kilometer time trial, starting and finishing in Zalla. HTC-Highroad team-mate, Marto Pinotti took third, 24 seconds back.

“The goal of the week here was to win today, and that’s what I’ve acheived,” Martin said afterward.

“I had a bit of a break after Paris-Nice and when I started this race I knew that I wasn’t going to be at 100 percent straight away.”

“But I’ve ended the race in great condition, and this win is the confirmation.”

Martin said that the very hilly time trial course in Zalla was so tough that he had to be careful not to go 100 percent from the start.

“It was a very easy course to miscalculate your strength because it was so technical and there was a lot of climbing.”

“I had problems on one bend on a descent, I braked too hard, but apart from that it went pretty well.”

“The key was making sure you didn’t go too hard in the first part and I had enough strength to finish at 100 percent.”

On a great day’s racing for HTC-Highroad, Adrie Visser also clinched a victory for the women’s team at stage three of the Energiewacht Tour in Holland.