Dan Martin rues being "so sick" and mechanical in Catalunya | Video | Sticky Bottle

*Dan Martin may have lost time but he said he had a mechanical, which cost him his place at the front initially, and that having been feeling so ill just last week he was glad to be back racing*

Dan Martin has lost considerable time on the first climbing stage at Volta a Catalunya, shipping 4:45 to stage winner Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) and ending his hopes of a GC result.

The Irish rider, competing for Israel Start-Up Nation,
had already lost time in yesterday’s TT, though his performance today looked
very far off his best.

On a day when the hilly stage – some 203km with a summit
finish to Vallter 2000 – saw huge gaps, Martin was back in 45^th
place, with team mate Chris Froome just 58 seconds behind him.

Martin said he slipped a chain today,
which cost him time on the final climb. He added he had been very sick last
week – an illness that kept him out of Tirreno Adriatico – and was disappointed
he could not be at the front today to help team mate Michael Woods, who was 8^th
on the stage.

“I did not feel good at all, but I really wanted to be there to try and help Mike in some way,” Dan Martin said of a challenging day in the saddle.

“I missed out on the real final as I dropped my chain.
However, I’m happy with how I’m progressing after having been so sick last
week. I hope I can continue improving throughout this race.”

With just under 10km to go today, and as the last of the
early breakaway men were still up the road, it was veteran Alejandro Valverde
(Movistar) who lit it up with an attack followed by a second one about 2km
later.

While he was eventually joined out front by Nairo Quintana (Arkea Samsic) it was Richard Carapaz who looked the strongest of the Ineos Grenadiers riders as he chased down the Spanish and Colombian duo, with Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) for company.

*Adam Yates seizes control, the British rider now with Ineos Grenadiers taking the stage win and the race lead in very convincing style*

However, while about 5km of hard racing on that final
climb shredded the front group, the front of it came back together and it was
Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) who struck the first clean blow with 5km to go.

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He attacked hard and was marked by Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma)
and a resurgent Valverde, with that trio mopping up the remains of the
breakaway.

Behind them, overall leader João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was assuming his now familiar role; driving on
the front of the chase group with no support after Fausto Masnada was dropped.

Almeida had Yates’s team mates Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas sitting on his wheel when their chase group was attacked by Esteban Chaves (BikeExchange) with just over 4km to go.

*Valverde (40) rolled back the years to really take on the final climb and end the day in 3rd place, holding his form very well when Yates took over in the final 5km*

Up ahead, Adam Yates first dropped
Valverde and then impressively rode away from Kuss with 2km to go to take a brilliant
win.

Chaves, whose career has been plagued with
illness and injury, came through very strongly for 2nd place, some 13 seconds
down on Yates, with Valverde in 3rd at 19 seconds.

Thomas took 4th, at 31 seconds, on the
same time as Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Kuss and
Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling).

A further five seconds down Michael Woods
(Israel Start-Up Nation) finished 8th at the front of a seven-man group
containing Quintana, Porte, Simon Yates (BikeExchange) and others.

Adam Yates took the overall lead thanks to his stage win
and ahead of stage 4 tomorrow – some 166.5km from Ripoll to Port
Ainé with a summit finish – he has 45 seconds on team mate Porte with Almeida
in 3^rd at 49 seconds with Thomas in 4^th at 54 seconds.
Dan Martin is now 41^st at 5:50.