Martin’s hopes blown away in torturous Tour
Irishman suffers cruel setback after brave fight Froome hangs on to an 18-second lead over Aru
The Tour de France can be a cruel, unfeeling mistress at the best of times, but even by her standards the treatment she has doled out to Dan Martin at this race has been below the belt.
Having battled back from a 70kmph crash on stage nine – when BMC’S Richie Porte barrelled into him on the descent off the Mont du Chat – the Irishman had worked tirelessly to claw his way back into overall contention.
His back was so sore he could hardly walk at the end of each day, but he had gritted his teeth and stolen back a few seconds here and a few seconds there.
So successful were his raids, in fact, that he had actually gone into yesterday’s 16th stage just 1min 13sec behind the yellow jersey of Chris Froome, having lost 1min 15sec in his crash.
Some were saying he was a serious threat to Sky’s leader.
And what happens? Crosswinds cause chaos in the final 20 kilometres of a stage which was not expected to shake up the GC, and Martin, whose Belgian team Quick Step Floors should in theory be masters of the Mistral, leave him isolated.
Martin misses the split, burns a huge amount of energy trying to get back on, fails to do so, and ends up losing 51 seconds, dropping to seventh overall at 2min 3sec. Just like that.
Just a few hours earlier, the 30-year-old had been talking enthusiastically about his overall chances.
“Now my back is fixed, for sure,” he said when asked whether he felt he could mix it with the likes of Froome, Fabio Aru [Astana], Ro- main Bardet [AG2R] and Rigoberto Uran [Cannondale-drapac] in the high mountains. “Yeah, every day I’m feeling better and going into the Alps I’m pretty sure I can climb with the best guys in the race.”
Martin has always had bags of self-belief. It is, according to his uncle – the former Tour de France, Giro d’italia and world champion Stephen Roche – his greatest strength. “I kind of always thought of Dan as a top-10 contender, but not really higher,” Roche admitted prior to yesterday’s stage. “I must say he has really surprised me the last few weeks. But that’s what he’s like. He’s very canny. And he has no fear of anything. He has an incredibly positive mentality.”
He is going to need all that positivity now because yesterday was a cruel blow.
His misfortune actually began before the stage had even started when team-mate Phillipe Gilbert was forced to abandon the race due to a bout of viral gastroenteritis.
With Matteo Trentin also absent, Quick Step were not at full capacity, and when their green jersey wearer Marcel Kittel slipped off the back of the peloton on the climb out of Le Puy-en-velay, and the race suddenly exploded, they were illequipped to support Martin.
Michael Matthews’ Sunweb team drove the pace, trying to open a decisive gap on Kittel and allow Matthews back into the green jersey competition. The tactic worked. Matthews eventually beat Edvald Boasson Hagen [Dimension Data] in the sprint into Romans-sur-isere – the win slightly soured by an altercation with John Degenkolb [Trek-segafredo] beyond the finish line – but Martin was by then a long way back.
A strong south-westerly wind had caused panic in the peloton when it hit in the last 40km and, with 12km to go, the race split. Martin found himself boxed in.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said, refusing to blame anyone but himself. “I’ve dealt with crosswinds before, but it’s a bit different in the last week of the Tour. The downhill was so dangerous. I lost position. I made a mistake. That’s bike racing.” The race now heads to the Alps, where Froome will try to protect his slender advantage over Aru [18sec], Bardet [23sec] and Uran [29sec].
First up are the fearsome Cols de la Croix de Fer and du Galibier.
Martin says he still believes he can do some damage there. Maybe he is right.
The Irishman, who was born in Birmingham to an English father and Irish mother (Roche’s sister), has constantly had to battle in his career.
“Nicolas is the ideal son in law,” Roche said yesterday when asked to compare his son and his nephew. “Dan is a killer. They are both super guys, really great riders, but different characters. Nicolas would like having a nice car and a nice watch. Dan would care about winning a race.”
This one may now be beyond him. But a podium remains a possibility and Brian Holm, Martin’s sporting director at Quick Step, is in no doubt he will continue to fight for it.
“You remember the movie Monty Python when the knight has his arms and legs cut off?” Holm asked. “That’s Dan. He doesn’t give up fighting.”