Martin attacks but slips to 6th
DAN MARTIN slipped a place on general classification yet inched closer to the yellow jersey after Tour de France fireworks in the Pyrenees on Bastille Day.
Martin, 30, was hailed by cycling legend Seán Kelly as ‘a great fighter’ after finishing sixth to Warren Barguil after a short, sharp, 13th stage of just 101km in the mountains.
While Martin dropped to sixth overall, he made up nine seconds on race leader, Fabio Aru.
It was the least the Irish Olympian deserved after initiating a counterattack on the category one Mur de Pegurs climb with 30km to go.
At that point, Mikel Landa and veteran Alberto Contadaor were up the road almost three minutes clear, with Nairo Quintana and Barguil about to join them, as the race split apart.
Martin doggedly knocked 30 seconds off the deficit as he dragged seven riders, including Aru, Chris Froome, Romain Bardet, and Rigobert Uran up the punishing climb.
When Froome attacked inside the final kilometre, Martin was briefly dropped but he clawed his way back. ‘After doing a huge amount of work, Dan Martin did a great job to get back on,’ purred Kelly.
On the flat approach to the finish in Foix, Martin kicked again and was joined by Simon Yates. At the line, they were one minutes and 39 seconds behind Barguil’s group, and just ahead of Aru.
‘Dan can read a race so well. He put in some effort today,’ said Kelly.
Aru still leads by six seconds from Froome with Bardet third at 25. Landa, a Sky teammate of Froome is up to fifth at 1.09 with Martin at 1.32.
Froome, who looked punch-drunk in the Pyrenees, bounced back as the defending champion and his Sky team took back control.
Froome, who struggled badly in Thursday’s high-altitude finish to Peyragudes, played a clever tactical game, sending team-mate Landa ahead and forcing Aru to chase and then bluffing his rivals before attacking.
‘We played a bit with our team because we had Landa close to the top of the general classification so it was perfect for us,’ said Froome. ‘Mikel was really strong and maybe another day we can try that again.
‘Thursday was a tough day for me but today I felt much better. It was a great feeling to go out there and race for the win, rather than racing defensively and having the pressure of defending the yellow jersey.
‘We’ve got a lot of faith in Mikel and I think he showed today that he’s a contender for the Tour.’