Dan Martin showed it all today; class, climbing prowess, determination and the ability to suffer very hard indeed.
Dan Martin fights all the way on Tour de France stage 11
Having been dropped by the group of favourites on the final climb of stage 11 at the Tour de France, Dan Martin clawed his way back on and then attacked.
The UAE Team Emirates rider would get clear with Chris Froome (Team Sky) on the climb to the summit finish at La Rosière.
He would gain time on many, though not all, of his general classification rivals.
It was a ride of incredible tenacity from Martin who kept his cool when under extreme pressure. He was then able to gather himself to launch up the road.
And when Froome hit the afterburners and dropped Martin with 1km remaining, the Irish rider doggedly fought on and lost only seconds to the Tour de France champion.
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But the day, without question, belonged to Geraint Thomas. The Team Sky co-leader won the stage and took the yellow jersey.
And during the final 5km it looked like Thomas and Froome were racing against each other.
Thomas took it up first, attacking from the select group with 5km remaining.
And from that point Froome attacked after him and also towed Team Sky’s rivals, including Dan Martin, closer to Thomas.
Thomas wins as behind him his team mate Chris Froome spent some f the final 4km towing other riders in pursuit, as well as trying to get clear on his own.
However, just as Froome was about to catch Thomas, who was with Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and Damiano Caruso (BMC); Thomas attacked.
He surged forward and caught and passed long-time lone leader Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) deep inside the final kilometre.
In the end Thomas won by 20 seconds from Dumoulin, who sprinted past Froome on the line after Froome had towed him during the final kilometre.
Chris Froome was 3rd on the same time as Dumoulin. Caruso was 4th, some 22 seconds down on Thomas. Then came Nieve on the same time.
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Dan Martin finished alone in 6th place; some 27 seconds down on Thomas but only seven seconds off Froome and Dumoulin.
Crucially for the Irish rider, there were bigger time gaps behind him than to those ahead.
Martin put 32 seconds into the small group of favourites he had been with earlier, and who had dropped him in a kilometre of frantic attacking begun by Geraint Thomas with just over 5km to go.
Losing those 32 seconds to Martin were: Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Primoz Roglic (LottoNL Jumbo).
⏪? Enjoy how @GeraintThomas86 overtook @NieveMikel to claim the stage win in La Rosière!
⏪? Appréciez comment @GeraintThomas86 a dépassé @NieveMikel pour s'imposer à La Rosière !#TDF2018 pic.twitter.com/KSawBj3ZLz— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) July 18, 2018
It was a good day at the office for Martin. In just a few kilometres he went from being dropped by the favourites to catching them and riding away from them with Froome for company.
And that result has seen Martin climb seven places in the general classification to 10th.
He is now only 1:01 off Nibali in 4th place having been very nearly two minutes off that position starting this morning.
Other big guns fall
Of the general classification men ahead of Martin this morning, several imploded today.
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) went on the attack before the final climb but was caught and dropped.
He has fallen from 3rd overall to 11th and is now 1:12 behind Martin.
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) has plummeted from 4th to 12th; now 1:37 off Martin.
Bob Jungels (QuickStep) has fallen 10 places to 15th; some 2:34 off the Dan Martin.
And Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) also lost time today; going from 7th to 16th overall and now 2:35 off the only Irish rider in the race.
The one concern for Dan Martin is that he dug very deep today; to both ride himself back into the race and then attack.
He can hopefully recover now for Alpe d’Huez tomorrow where yellow jersey Thomas will have to watch his team mate closer than any of his other rivals.
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