Dan Martin may have gone into Volta a Catalunya with a question mark hanging over his form after the illness that forced him out of Tirreno Adriatico earlier this month, but he has emerged from the race in Spain looking in much better form.
The Irish cyclist didn’t take a result on the challenging
final stage in Barcelona today, but he was with the race leader’s group,
containing most of the favourites, after a hard day on the hilly circuit and
after getting clear earlier in a large 32-rider group.
Only three of the riders from that group survived all the
way, with Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal)
dropping Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) with 5km to
go to win, and 22-year-old Hungarian rider Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ) surviving for 3rd place.
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Some 1:46 after the solo winner celebrated victory on the line came the select group containing the Ineos Grenadiers riders who were top three overall this morning; Adam Yates, Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas.
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Martin finished just off the back of that group, sitting up at the very last, and rolled across the line some 12 seconds off what was a 21-rider select chasing group.
And that performance by Martin today, combined with his ride off the front on the climbs on Friday when he took 5th place, very much suggest the show is back on the road for the Irish climber ahead of the Ardennes Classics.
Martin will go into those races aided and abetted by
Israel Start-Up Nation team mate Michael Woods and combined they can do serious
damage once they are on form.
“It’s a perfect sign after I was sick two weeks ago and
missed a lot of training, so I’m happy to be on the right track again, and this
result gives us confidence for the next days and races,” he said after his
recent performances.
Yates, who took the race lead after a really strong victory on stage 3, was 9th today and ran out the overall winner by 45 seconds from Porte, with Thomas 3rd at 49 seconds.
Dan Martin finished well down the standings, in 25th place at 13:18 after losing a lot of time midweek. However, the fact he was clearly coming good in the final stages will be the main thing he will take from the race.
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