Dan Martin is looking very, very well as the Tour de France heads into a crucial couple of stages. On the first of a a trio of days in the Pyrenees the Etixx-QuickStep man was one of a few to attack and get time on his rivals before being reeled back in. Expect more of the same tomorrow and Sunday.
By Brian Canty
It’s one Pyrenean stage down and two to go for Sam Bennett as he counts the days until the first rest day of this year’s Tour de France.
Today’s seventh stage of the race was the easiest of the three stages in the high mountains on the Spanish/French border - but still brutal, and he finished in the grupetto, safely inside the time limit in a group of around 20 riders.
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Tomorrow and Sunday are markedly harder days and he won’t need any reminding that they are truly monstrous stages.
Four categorised climbs are on the menu tomorrow – including the hors categorie Col du Tourmalet inside 90 kilometres while there are two category one ascents as well as a category two to contend with afterwards.
And a day later on the journey to the summit finish at Andorra-Arcalis (hors categorie) there are three category ones and a category two.
But the Carrick man won’t look that far ahead just yet after surviving today’s gruelling test.
Sam Bennett is showing great character after a crash on stage 1 of the Tour left him very badly injured.
He is on the mend – quicker than he expected, and is off the antibiotics he’s been taking since Sunday to help treat the hand he tore quite badly in Saturday’s opening day bunch sprint crash.
His back, which also took a heavy impact, is also improving and that’s allowed him sleep a little better these last few nights.
Having said that, he’s still off where he’d like to be and his only goal right now is to make the time limit every day.
Today’s stage saw him cross the line over 20 minutes down with many of the other sprinters and those who were affected by that crash last Saturday.
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Top of the pile on the 162-kilometre journey from l'Isle-Jourdain to Lac de Payolle was Briton Steve Cummings who took his second ever stage win in the race.
The 35 year-old Dimension Data man was in blistering form, continuing a brilliant year for him that has now seen him claim stage wins in Tirreno-Adriatico, the Criterium du Dauphiné and now the Tour.
He was the last surviving member of a 29-man break that escaped around 50 kilometres into the stage.
Left off Great Britain's Olympic team and deeply unhappy about it; Cummins wins the stage.
One rider who made his way in there was race leader Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) which is something rarely seen at the Tour, or any race for that matter.
Clearly, the ‘top’ GC contenders don’t see him as much of a threat to hold the jersey but the Belgian was in determined mood, finishing fifth on the stage and increasing his lead to over six minutes on his nearest challenger, Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep).
The latter is a teammate of Ireland’s Dan Martin and both crossed the line in a large group some four and a half minutes back.
Martin is ninth overall, 6:42 behind Van Avermaet while two-time winner Chris Froome (Team Sky), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Romain Bardet (Ag2r la Mondiale) and Warren Barguil (Team Giant Alpecin) are all on the same time.
Martin was in great form today, attacking on the final climb of the Col d'Aspin and going clear with Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExhange) before the peloton responded and reeled them back in.
He was one of just a few to really force the issue and the fireworks that were expected on that final climb never really materialised, take it as read they will tomorrow.
Stage 7: l’Isle-Jourdain to Lac de Payolle (162.5km)
1 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 3:51:58
2 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-BikeExchange 0:01:05
3 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:05
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:14
5 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:03:04
6 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:04:29
7 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
8 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky
9 Gorka Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team
10 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
General Classification
1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 34:13:40
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:06:36
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:38
4 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:06:39
5 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:06:42
6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:06:42
7 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:06:42
8 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac 0:06:42
9 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:06:42
10 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:06:42
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