A usually calm and collected Dan Martin shouts in frustration as he's left stranded by the side of the road on the final climb, with no team car in sight. The Mavic neutral service guys did their best but the Irishman bemoaned how long it took him to get restarted.
Dan Martin has had a season to forget thus far, with two crashes in Fleche-Wallone and Liège–Bastogne–Liège ruling him out of the shake up on those classics.
To compound that turn of events, a below par ride in the Tour of Romandie that followed brought about a medical check that diagnosed broken ribs from his Liège spill.
On Friday's stage 6 of the Critérium du Dauphiné in France, he dropped some of the best climbers in the world, including Chris Froome (Team Sky).
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However, his chances of a stage win and moving much higher overall were scuppered yesterday by a puncture on the penultimate stage.
Just as Froome attacked the select group as the racing was exploding on the final climb, Martin was with the Briton and the handful of other strongmen able to initially follow the pace.
However, he disappeared immediately, apparently having been distanced when the big picture started up the finishing Montée du Bettex cat 1 ascent; the fifth such climb of the day.
Martin finally gets going again. The fragmenting of the race at the time combined with the narrow roads and the fact his car started ninth vehicle in the cavalcade meant a wheel change from his own team was impossible.
And while Froome and Tejay van Garderen (BMC) rode flat out to the finish having dropped everyone else, some 1:52 would elapse before Cannondale-Garmin’s Martin trailed home in 13th place behind solo winner Froome.
However, it later emerged that at the precise moment Froome was turning the screw to drag van Garderen clear, before dropping him and taking the stage, Martin suffered a puncture.
He was then forced to wait by the side of the road for what he described on Twitter as “the slowest wheel change”.
The usually ultra professional and cool Martin was clearly annoyed, as seen in these photos, having been robbed of the chance to flex his climbing muscles against the big guns.
However, because the leading riders were scattered over a distance at the time, it meant the team cars had not yet been allowed to overtake those being dropped.
And the narrow roads, combined with the fact the Cannondale-Garmin car started the day ninth in the cavalcade, meant a change from his own team at that time was impossible at the time.
Still, Martin would move up the overall by two places to 8th, now 2:29 down on van Garderen.
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The American was reclaiming the overall lead he lost to stage 6 winner Vincenzo Nibali; the Astana man going backwards yesterday exactly three weeks away from the start of his Tour de France defence.
Philip Deignan of Team Sky, who is unquestionably one of the best climbing domestiques in the world at present, came home in 40th place yesterday.
He was in a group 8:56 down but was again visible at the front in the service of Froome for long periods. He has surely done enough to confirm a place in his team’s Tour de France squad.
Nicolas Roche, who is also going very well this season and will be key to Froome's chances of Tour glory in Paris, came home just one place behind Deignan yesterday.
Anybody know where I can get a big bag of good luck? Flat tyre bottom of last climb and the slowest wheel change. At least legs are good
— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) June 13, 2015
The two Irishmen rolled over the line side by side having done their work to help the team to victory. They will be called into service again on today’s final stage, as Froome attempts to claw back the 18 seconds van Garderen has on him.
And given the climbing form Froome is in and the fact another cat 1 summit finish awaits the riders at the end of 156km from Saint-Gervais-les-Bains to Modane Valfréjus, the Briton make take the final yellow jersey.
However, van Garderen rode a fantastic race yesterday, never panicking when distanced by Froome in the final couple of kilometres and limiting his losses on him to just 17 seconds.
Martin is far enough in arrears to be given some leeway if he has the legs - which appears to be the case - to attack today in pursuit of a stage win.
Any time gain would be crucial for him as he is just one minute off Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) in 5th.
Stage 7: Montmélian to Mont Blanc, Le Bettex (155km)
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 4:24:17
2 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:17
3 Louis Meintjes (RSA) MTN - Qhubeka 0:00:41
4 Benat Intxausti (Spa) Movistar Team
5 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:54
6 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:08
7 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:15
8 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:25
9 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida 0:01:34
10 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:45
11 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge 0:01:47
12 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Lampre-Merida
13 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:52
14 David De La Cruz (Spa) Etixx - Quick-Step
15 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:55
40 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:08:56
41 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky same
General Classification
1 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 26:59:27
2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:18
3 Benat Intxausti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:45
4 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida 0:01:10
5 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge 0:01:29
6 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:40
7 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:45
8 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:02:29
9 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:02:39
10 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:02:46
11 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:03:05
12 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Lampre-Merida 0:03:36
13 David De La Cruz (Spa) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:04:12
14 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:05:05
15 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:05:55
41 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:41:35
44 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:44:21
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