DAN’S TOUR DE FORCE
Martin targets overall victory after stage win
DAN MARTIN is targeting a concerted assault on the Tour de France, famously won by his uncle Stephen Roche in 1987, after a stunning solo charge for stage victory in Brittany yesterday.
The Irishman surged from 19 to 30 kilometres per hour on a climb with a 10 per cent gradient when he attacked just outside the final kilometre on the second ascent of the Mur de Bretagne.
The spurt burned off the favourites in
the elite group and Martin had sufficient juice in his legs to cling on for victory by a second from France’s Pierre Latour with veteran Spaniard Alejandro Valverde a further two seconds back.
For Birmingham-born Martin, success was particularly sweet as he was second on the climb known as ‘Alpe d’Huez of Brittany’ on the Tour in 2015.
It was the 31-year-old’s second stage win, five years after his first in the Pyrenees and leaves him only behind Roche (three wins) and Sean Kelly (five) in the alltime Irish list of stage winners on the Tour.
The late Shay Elliott, also a stage winner, was the first Irishman to wear the yellow jersey of race leader in 1963 and Martin didn’t disguise his ambitions ahead of the Tour’s cobbles and climbs to come.
‘My win today is definitely a confidence booster for the GC (general classification),’ he said.
‘The last time I was second here, I had lost a bit of time before. I’ll try to ride for GC as hard as I can this year.
‘But this victory makes this Tour de France a successful one already.’
Martin was left isolated in terms of support from UAE Team Emirates but that didn’t deflect his focus on the 181km sixth stage from Brest.
‘I was a bit nervous because of the head wind,’ admitted Martin.
‘The first time up the climb, I saw everyone was at the limit. I had no team-mate left.
‘My legs were there all the time. I already wanted to have a go yesterday, but it wasn’t as steep as today. I was looking forward to having a crack.’
‘It’s great to get a win after so many second places since the last one. I was afraid of the cross winds and maybe it was adrenaline, but the legs were there and it all worked out.
‘There were a lot of contenders in that group so I was glad to hang on,’ he added.
Martin’s courageous move splintered the chasers and he held off a late push from AG2R La Mondiale’s Latour to cross the line alone — and pick up a 10-second time bonus — just ahead of the pack as the general classification hopefuls scrapped for seconds.
BMC’s Greg Van Avermaet hung on to the yellow jersey, with Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas moving up to second place, three seconds down.
There was a slight split in the peloton after Martin’s attack, with Chris Froome losing five seconds to a group which included Van Avermaet, Thomas, Adam Yates of Mitchelton-Scott, and Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde, Mikel Landa and Nairo Quintana.
There were greater losses further back among the other riders.
Romain Bardet was hit by problems on the short two-kilometre climb and Tom Dumoulin was also distanced after suffering a mechanical problem with six kilometres left.
The general classification showed Yates listed in 13th and Froome in 14th, both 62 seconds off yellow, and now one second ahead of Dumoulin who dropped to 15th.
Martin is up three places to 21st, and trails Van Avermaet by one minute and 27 seconds. His highest finish in five previous Tours was sixth last year to Froome.
The three-week stage race continues with a long flat run of 213km from Fougeret to Chartres today, which appears tailor-made for the sprinters.