Having been caught out a number of times in the Tour de France before today’s stage 10 when the peloton split, there were no such problems for Dan Martin today.
The Irishman rode a perfect race on a day when many of
his rivals of the general classification lost more than 1½ minutes to him.
Deceuninck-QuickStep, Team Ineos and Bora-hansgrohe
combined at the front of the bunch from a long way out to split it in the
crosswinds.
In the end the front group was whittled right down;
numbering more than one third of the peloton to start but getting smaller with
every passing kilometre on the road to Albi.
At the finish, despite the front group being packed with
favoured sprinters, it was Wout van Aert of Jumbo Visma who sprinted in to win.
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He won a photo finish between himself and Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep), with Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) and Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) in 4th and 5th.
Matthews had the perfect lead out but he waited far too
late to come off his final team mate’s wheel; the others all in full sprint
mode when they passed him.
Van Aert was best; the sprint more a drag race than an
all-out gallop as the final hour of racing and a gradual incline just before
the finish line ensuring strength was as important as speed in the dash to the
line.
The battle for the stage win aside; there were significant
developments in the fight for the general classification.
In the end just 28 men finished on the same time as the
winner, the Team Ineos duo of Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal among them.
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Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) was also there; at the
back of the group and having ridden brilliantly.
He finished 25th of the 28 me who got the same time as Van Aert, a stage winner in his first ever Grand Tour; indeed his first time to race more than seven days.
Dan Martin was exactly where he needed to be when the race split and as the pressure was piled on on the front of his group he kept himself hidden away – a text book ride from the climbing ace.
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was in the front
group and so he extends his overall lead. Indeed, the yellow jersey was active
on front; pressing the pace very hard to ensure small gaps in the group became
big ones.
And when they became big there were huge casualties. In a
group that finished a staggering 1:40 down on Dan Martin were: Thibaut Pinot
(Groupama-FDJ), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) and
Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First).
And even further back, at 2:09, was a group containing
Mikel Landa (Movistar); putting a serious dent in his ambitions.
The result means Dan Martin now moves up into the top 10
for the first time on this Tour. He is now place 9th some 2:09 down.
Alaphilippe now leads by 1:12 from Thomas, with Bernal at
1:16 in 3rd place after a day when Martin’s chances of a top five overall were
significantly increased.
He now heads into the rest day in the knowledge that he
has gained significant time on his rivals for a top placing, and maybe even a
podium finish, into Paris.
Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) paid for his breakaway efforts of yesterday. He finished in the largest group on the road; some 9:41 down and in 139th place, though he is not riding for time this year.
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