Sky flies high in the Algarve

Porte's third was enough to keep him at the top of the general classification ahead of Martin (37 seconds) and Wiggins (44 seconds).

“I knew I had good form and I raced here as preparation for Paris-Nice. So to come away with the stage win and the overall I’m really happy," said Porte. "Of course to win the mountain-top finish on the third stage was great.

“I thought I had good enough form to do a good time trial and I was able to finish it off. It’s a nice way to start my time with a new team.”

Martin, the 2011 winner of Volta Algarve, did his best to cut into a 50 second gap between he and Porte but it wasn't enough to defend his title.

"I'm happy about my performance even if I made two little mistakes in two corners that compromised my race a bit," Martin said after Stage 5. "Moreover at about five kilometers from the finish a dog crossed the road while I was passing. I was scared and I stopped pedalling for few meters. But all these kind of things can happen in a TT, so I have nothing to complain about."

The 2011 world time-trial champion and a leading contender for the 2012 Tour de France was also pleased with his form heading into the rest of the season.

"Wiggins was really strong and he deserved the victory," Martin said. "It was a nice duel with Bradley and I'm sure this year we will see other good fights as today. Concerning my condition, I can say that I improved a lot in this week of racing. Everything is going in the right directions, I'm really looking forward to the next races."

Jesse Sergent (RadioShack-Nissan) set the early benchmark time of 33 minutes and 2 seconds on a course which featured a mix of flat and technical sections. But it wasn't enough as Wiggins, Martin, Porte and Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) all showed their class against the clock.

Stage 5: 25.8km ITT, Lagoa to Portimao
1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky 0:32:48
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
3 Richie Porte (Aus) Sky 0:00:13
4 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC 0:00:14
5 Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack-Nissan
6 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:00:29
7 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:39
8 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 0:00:53
9 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky 0:00:56
10 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Rabobank

General classification
1 Richie Porte (Aus) Sky 19:02:43
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 0:00:37
3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky 0:00:44
4 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:00:50
5 Rui Costa (Por) Movistar Team 0:00:58
6 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack-Nissan 0:01:02
7 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC 0:01:13
8 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:01:14
9 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM 0:01:33
10 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:01:39