Dan Martin avoids Tour de France sprint finish spill ahead of crucial TT

Nicolas Roche, centre, leads the bunch on the road between Saint-Gildas-des-Bois and Saint-Malo today.

By Gavin McLoughlin

After the euphoria of Dan Martin’s epic stage win on Sunday, the 100th Tour de France resumed with a day for the sprinters on stage 10 today, Tuesday.

A crash in the final straight caused some splits in the bunch, with Garmin-Sharp leader Martin among those caught behind. But the commissaires awarded the time of stage-winner Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) to all those delayed.

Martin remains 8th on general classification, 2:28 behind the yellow jersey of race-leader Chris Froome (Sky). He will have been glad of a relatively restful day in the peloton ahead of tomorrow’s important 33 kilometre individual time-trial.

Saxo-Tinkoff super-domestique Nicolas Roche was again prominent in service of Alberto Contador, taking some long turns on the front as the general classification contenders sought to avoid trouble in the final 25 kilometres. His duty done for the day, Roche arrived at the finish line 1:40 behind stage winner Kittel. He will start tomorrow in 47th overall, 31:50 behind Froome.

Today the peloton would complete a 197km leg from Saint-Gildas-des-Bois to Saint-Malo. After suffering through an arduous weekend in the Pyrenees, the sprinters would get their reward with a parcours that looked certain to provide a bunch finish.

The riders would travel north for most of the day, before reaching the coast of Brittany and turning west for home with some 25 kilometres remaining. There was a danger that the sea wind would play havoc from there on in, so vigilance would be required to ensure none were caught out.

The break of the day formed early on and was made up of Luis Maté (Cofidis), Jérôme Cousin (Europcar), Juan José Oroz (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Julien Simon (Sojasun) and Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM).

The sprinters’ teams shared the work with the lieutenants of race-leader Chris Froome all day and together they easily kept the escapees’ advantage under control.

Shortly after the westward turn, Saxo-Tinkoff moved to the front of the peloton with Nicolas Roche leading the troops and helping to keep Contador out of trouble. Roche stamped hard on the pedals for a number of kilometres before turning duties over to a teammate.

Martin was being shepherded by teammate David Millar, the veteran Scot also spending some time on the front as the pace began to ratchet up.

The break was caught with 6 kilometres left and the lead-out men swarmed to the front. Lotto-Belisol and Argos-Shimano did their jobs best, and it came down to a duel between German compatriots André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and Marcel Kittel.

And ultimately it was Kittel who managed to pull out the narrow win on this occasion, taking his second stage victory of this year’s Tour.

In the final straight, the German’s lead-out man Tom Veelers hit the deck after brushing shoulders with Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). The collision seemed to rattle Cavendish and the frustrated Manxman could only finish a distant third, looking over his shoulder to survey the scene behind in the final metres.

Tomorrow’s stage is a flattish 33 kilometre individual time-trial from Avranches to Mont Saint-Michel.

Time-trialling has not historically been one of Martin’s strengths, so the goal for tomorrow will be to limit his losses as much as possible. The extent to which he succeeds will have a large bearing on his general classification prospects at this Tour.

It is not an especially lengthy test as far as time-trials go, and so that should help the Garmin-Sharp leader maintain his place on the leader board.

Roche will obviously be released from team responsibilities for the day. The Irishman will hope to save some energy with more mammoth efforts in store for him later in the race.

@gavmcloughlin