Dan Martin finishes in France, race leader Chris Froome just behind him after proving unable to hold the Irishman on what was a fantastic performance for the Etixx-QuickStep man.
By Brian Canty
Ireland’s Dan Martin has finished a brilliant third on the penultimate stage of the Criterium Du Dauphiné this afternoon, Saturday.
The Etixx-QuickStep man came across the line just over a minute behind stage winner Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and runner-up Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), with Chris Froome (Team Sky) a few seconds behind him after cracking in the final.
Race leader Froome came into the stage on top after blitzing the opposition on stage five yesterday, when he won and took the yellow jersey.
However, it all threatened to go pear-shaped for the Team Sky leader this afternoon as a 19–man break went up the road and in the move was French favourite Romain Bardet of Ag2r LA Mondiale.
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The flyweight climber started the day 11th overall at 1’34” but with the help of a willing coalition in the escape – none more loyal than teammate Mikael Cherel - they came to the 10km to go sign some 2’25” ahead of the Froome group
In there were all the main contenders, such as Richie Porte (BMC), Alberto Contador (Tinkoff), Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), Dan Martin and Julian Alaphilippe (both Etixx-QuickStep) amongst others.
Contador was hyper-aggressive all day and he attacked again and again in an effort to go clear, with Wednesday’s stage winner Fabio Aru (Astana) following his every move.
Eventually, a 19-man group went clear by the halfway point and Aru managed to infiltrate it, though he was later dropped as others also fell away up the road.
Bardet was clearly feeling strong and after savage pace-setting from his teammate Cherel he went clear of the break, though Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) eventually bridged across to him.
At this point, there were less than 15 riders in the Froome group with Mikel Landa and Sergio Henao doing their best to drag the man in yellow closer to Bardet in an effort to save the day up the final climb to the finish.
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They rode like men possessed for that entire final climb, with Froome locked in third wheel for most of the way up.
Inside the five-kilometre to go banner and Bardet was still 1'44" ahead on the road but when he started to play cat-and-mouse with Pinot, his lead was chipped away.
Behind, the rapidly reducing front group closed in and when the pace was at its highest Martin found another gear and jumped clear, with only Froome able to go with him.
Martin knew the stage was gone but he was chasing the bonus seconds for third - which he got.
But he didn't have enough time on Richie Porte (BMC Racing team) or Froome to move ahead of them on GC.
Romain Bardet's margin on Martin crossing the line was enough to see the Frenchman move up to third - on the same time as the Irishman - with Alberto Contador slipping to fifth.
So while Martin has ridden out of his socks for much of the last week and the top of the general classification has been re-arranged several times around him, he is still in 4th; exactly where he was after the uphill prologue that started the race last Sunday.
It is a truly memorable afternoon for Martin who will look ahead to the Tour de France next month knowing he has what it takes right now to beat Froome and anybody else when the road goes skywards.
Stage 6: La Rochette to Miribel (144 km)
1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 4:24:16
2 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
3 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:01:04
4 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:07
5 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Lampre - Merida 0:01:15
6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff Team
7 Diego Rosa (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:17
8 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge
9 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:01:21
10 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
11 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:47
12 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff Team 0:01:55
13 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:02:05
14 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:02:07
15 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:02:11
16 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Team Sky 0:02:29
17 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team Katusha 0:02:35
18 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:07
19 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:05
20 Stef Clement (Ned) IAM Cycling 0:04:13
131 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18 0:33:58
General Classification
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 25:50:22
2 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:21
3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
4 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:30
5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff Team 0:00:35
6 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:56
7 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge 0:01:02
8 Diego Rosa (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:18
9 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Lampre - Merida 0:01:35
10 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:02:12
11 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:02:39
12 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Team Sky 0:03:02
13 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:16
14 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:03:34
15 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:04:16
134 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18 1:17:50
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