Dan Martin attacks as Tour rivals come from behind
Dan Martin may be injured and not at his best at the Tour de France, but he managed to put time into most of the big names on stage 13 today.
A small breakaway group of real quality forged ahead of the peloton on the 101km stage from Saint Girons to Foix.
And when it got more than two minutes Martin had to do something because of the men up there.
Two of them – Mikel Landa (Team Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) – started the day behind Martin overall but not so far that they couldn’t catch him overall.
And so back in the select group Dan Martin and Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) teamed up and got clear in the hope of limiting the damage.
In the end of the breakaway’s lead was reduced, but not by much. And Martin and Yates only managed to gain 9 seconds on the group of favourites they had attacked from.
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It meant Landa jumped over Martin into 5th place overall, with the Irishman now in 6th.
And though Quintana started the day 2:20 down on Martin, he is now just 35 seconds behind him.
Frustratingly, on the final climb he towed the group along for a period after the escape, allowing his GC rivals sit on him for periods.
Today Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) claimed the stage from Quintana and Alberto Contador (Trek Segafredo).
Landa, the other man in the escape, was 4th just two seconds back.
Yates and Martin would finish 5th and 6th, sandwiched between the breakaway and the select group.
That group contained yellow jersey Fabio Aru (Astana), Chris Froome (Team Sky) and others.
Yates and Martin had lost 1:39 to the breakaway and the six-man select group were just 9 further seconds back.
Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) was 57th today, some 14:20 down. However, he is expected to go on the attack in coming days.
How it unfolded
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Of the big riders, it was Contador, Barguil and Landa who would go clear first. Barguil had escaped on the Col de Latrape, looking for points in the mountains classification.
Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing) was leading alone at the time.
But when Contador attacked after Barguil and Landa followed, the stage had a serious break on its hands.
At the top of the climb, with 69.5km remaining, the trio had 33 seconds on the group containing yellow jersey Aru and the other favourites.
However, Barguil would soon drop back leaving just the two up front; De Marchi having long been caught and passed.
On the Col d'Agnes, though Barguil had been dropped, he was still on his own on the road just behind the leaders.
And on the climb he was joined by Nairo Quintana (Movistar), marked for Team Sky by Michal Kwiatkowski; who was not working.
At the tip of the climb the two leaders had 30 seconds on the three chasers but 2:30 on the yellow jersey group.
Incredibly UAE Emirates began towing the yellow jersey group in defence of Louis Meintjes’ 9th place overall.
That assistance was heaven sent for race leader Aru as his team is performing poorly at this Tour.
Onto the next climb, the Mur de Péguère, and Quintana and Barguil would drop Kwiatkowski and then catch Contador and Landa.
That created a formidable quarter up front. And because Quintana and Landa were threats to Dan Martin’s GC placing, he began to drive the yellow jersey group.
As usual on the climbs, Martin had no team mates to help. The Irishman, despite his back injury from his crash last Sunday, ripped the group apart.
It was reduced from a mini peloton of about 30 to 40 riders down to a select group of just seven in the period Martin was on the front up the final climb.
And just before the summit when Froome would attack, Martin went from first in the group to being spat out the back, with Yates, within a few seconds.
At the top of the Mur de Péguère and with 23km to the finish, the leaders had 1:43 in hand on the yellow jersey group.
Martin and Yates would get back on going down the climb. Froome, Bardet and Uran all attacked Aru on the run-in.
But it was Yates and Dan Martin who would get clear on the flat late in the day. However, they did an awful lot of work and only got 9 seconds on what remained of the yellow jersey group.
Stage 13: Saint Girons - Foix (101km)
1 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb 2:36:29
2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
3 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
4 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky 0:00:02
5 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:01:39
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors
7 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:01:48
8 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
9 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
10 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
11 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
12 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
13 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team 0:04:08
14 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
15 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
57 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:14:20
General Classification
1 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 55:30:06
2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:06
3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:25
4 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:35
5 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky 0:01:09
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:32
7 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:02:04
8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:07
9 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:51
10 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:22
11 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:06:24
12 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:09:50
13 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:10:33
14 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:11:13
15 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb 0:14:05
37 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 1:01:40
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