Brilliant Dan Martin now with one hand on Paris-Nice yellow
Dan Martin, second in line, excelling while Julian Alaphilippe faltered changed the general classification.
Dan Martin has put in another fantastic ride at Paris-Nice and jumped to 2nd overall in the process.
The Irishman rode an excellent final climb on today’s penultimate stage.
He refused to panic when Sergio Henao (Team Sky) and Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) rode away from him in pursuit of Richie Porte (Team Sky).
Instead, the brilliant Dan Martin rode his own climb after his QuickStep team mate and yellow jersey Julian Alaphilippe cracked badly on the summit finish.
That cat 1 ascent of the Col de la Couillole was 16km long meaning the really strong climbers were in their element.
And when the early breakaway was swept up the main field thinned out almost immediately the racing hit the slopes.
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It was Philip Deignan who did much of the damage on the early sections of the climb. Deignan road hard on the front to put the favourites under pressure for Henao.
The team used the same tactic yesterday and on the final climb Henao gained time on everyone apart from Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) who won the stage.
When Deignan swung over and off the front today there were still 12km remaining. And it was not until much higher up the climb that the real racing began.
Richie Porte, who lost time on the opening stages, hit out and powered to a great stage win for BMC.
His surge smashed what was left of the select group and it was Contador and Henao who proved strongest in the chase after Richie Porte.
It looked like Dan Martin was going backwards, but he kept his head, just as he did in the final yesterday.
And he continued to ride very well, just a couple of hundred metres off the back off Henao and Contador.
With 2km remaining Porte had 20 seconds on the two pursuers. But now Martin was closing on that pair and had clawed his way back to within 10 seconds of them.
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Richie Porte attacks the select group to take the stage win, but Dan Martin is now up from 5th to 2nd overall.
Just inside the 1km banner, Contador dropped Henao. And from that point Martin closed on the Colombian.
He caught him right on the line and passed him for four bonus seconds. It was enough for the Irishman to nudge into 2nd overall behind new leader Henao.
And Dan Martin is now just one second ahead of Contador. The time bonus Martin relentlessly pursued is the difference between the two.
Dan Martin (30) Vs Julian Alaphilippe (24)
In the end Porte won by 21 seconds from Contador with Martin a further 11 seconds back and Henao on the same time.
Nicolas Roche was 27th today at 6:49. Philip Deignan was 63rd at 20:44. Finishing position for Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) to follow.
Henao leads Martin by 30 seconds, with Contador 3rd just one second further back.
Encouragingly neither Henao nor Contador looked invisible today and Martin now has one hand on that yellow jersey.
The question is whether Henao and Team Sky will be strong enough to beat him off tomorrow.
There are five climbs to come, but the final first category ascent is created 15km from the finish. It is a scenario that does not suit Martin as well as a summit finish would.
But with just one day to go it’s a case of ‘game on’, with Martin now the big threat and within striking distance.
Julian Alaphilippe would lose 2:40 to Porte today and has slipped to 5th overall.
His collapse while Martin really dug in is important for the pecking order in the team for the rest of the season.
Alaphilippe is much younger than Martin; 24 years to 30 years.
Any thoughts that you young Frenchman was now nudging past Martin will have been dented by today's outcome.
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