One of the most exciting attacking climbers on his day, Dan Martin has said he rode the last climb of Giro stage 17 to Sega di Ala in a manner intended to kill the morale of anyone behind him who thought they were going to catch him.
It was a day when even the seemingly rock solid race leader Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) cracked and Simon Yates (BikeExchange) sensed blood and rode flat out for time up the climb. But still Dan Martin could not be brought back, despite spending the stage in the breakaway before reaching that final ascent to the finish line.
The Irishman has ridden very well on the race over the past 2½ weeks and but for a massive time loss on stage 11 over the gravel he would be much higher placed overall.
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Yates and Almeida chased Martin as hard as they could up the climb; Yates looking for time on Bernal, after the race leader faltered, and Almeida determined to take a stage win. But nobody could stop Irish rider Dan Martin from taking a thoroughly deserved win after an epic stage-long ride (Photos by Fabio Ferrari and Alessandro Bremec)
However, while he was bitterly disappointed with that
time loss on such a key stage, he has bounced back since them; climbing very
well and today giving some of the best riders in the world a master class.
He has now won stages on all three Grand Tours and at the
finish today, though he had ridden so well, he was delighted but also in
disbelief.
“I think the shake of the head at the end there said I couldn’t quite believe it was happening,” he said of having dropped all his breakaway companions and held off the general classification men who were charging up the climb behind him.
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📽️ @DanMartin86 grit up front, the Maglia Rosa under siege behind: the final km of today’s stage.
📽️ La grinta di @DanMartin86 davanti, la Maglia Rosa sotto attacco dietro. L'ultimo km della tappa di oggi.
Powered @supersapiensinc #Giro pic.twitter.com/3TPcsP2tHQ— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 26, 2021
“That’s what I came here for, to try to win a stage,” he added. “And I knew today was one of the last opportunities. With the time I lost it was possible to go in the breakaway and to do it was incredible."
His team has had a very eventful Giro, from leading the racing to losing riders from the very opening stage, but Martin knows his win today, an especially the manner of that win, makes it a great race for them.
“It's been a rollercoaster us as a team. We lost Krists (Neilands) on the first day. We had some really good stages, we had a lot of podiums and then we lost Alessandro (De Marchi). He was in the pink and then he crashed out and Alex (Dowsett) got sick.
“But our spirit has always been amazing. We've had a
great team atmosphere. That showed this morning,” he said of targeting the
stage and executing it brilliantly.
“I knew from the recon I did of this climb that it's easier
with two kilometres to go. So I just rode my pace on the steeper section, just
rode a good tempo. ]
“And then I really went full gas with 2.5km to go because
I knew they were coming close and I could kill their morale. It wasn't until
then I really went all in.”
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