Martin attacks uphill to claim stage win
MURDEBRETAGNE: Irishman Dan Martin claimed victory on the sixth stage of the Tour de France with a brutal attack in an uphill finish as several top riders lost time yesterday.
The Team UAE Emirates rider jumped away from the main pack inside the final kilometre and never looked back, beating Frenchman Pierre Latour by 1sec and Spaniard Alejandro Valverde by 3sec.
Belgian Greg van Avermaet hung on for dear life on the 2km climb at an average gradient of 6.9% to retain the overall leader’s yellow jersey, while Australian Richie Porte, Italian Vincenzo Nibali and Britain’s Geraint Thomas all crossed the line 3sec off the pace after the 181km ride from Brest.
Defending champion Chris Froome was 5sec further back.
Last year’s runnerup, Rigoberto Uran, was 11sec behind Martin but it was worse for Frenchman Romain Bardet, who ended 31sec off the pace after having to swap bikes with a teammate following a mechanical problem just before the last climb.
‘‘A spoke broke and I had to swap bikes with Tony [Gallopin]. Then I had to chase and that effort was fatal,’’ AG2RLa Mondiale rider Bardet told reporters.
‘‘It’s never good to lose time. There are a lot of twists on the Tour and this time luck was not on our side.’’
Bardet now trails Froome by 43sec, while Team Sky will also be able to play the Geraint Thomas card as the Welshman, who won the Criterium du Dauphine last month, sits in third place overall, 59sec ahead of the fourtime Tour champion.
Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, the 2017 Giro d’Italia champion, suffered a puncture with 5km to go and ended the day 53sec behind the winner.
He was then handed a 20sec penalty by the race jury for staying too long in his team car’s slipstream. — Reuters