Dan Martin has taken another podium finish in France today and also secured third overall at the Tour de l'Ain in France, showing his form is coming good for his major goal of the Vuelta a Espana. Above, rising French talent Julian Alaphillippe sprints to final stage victory at the tour de l'Ain today as Dan Martin (in yellow shoes) takes second on the stage.
By Gerard Cromwell
Ireland’s Dan Martin finished second on the final stage of the Tour de l’Ain in France today after a brave solo bid fell short of earning the Garmin Sharp rider overall victory in the four day French stage race.
Martin began the day in third place overall, 2'25" down on overall leader Bertjan Lindeman of the Rabobank Development team and a minute and 36 seconds behind Tour de France revelation Romain Bardet of Ag2r.
Advertisement
On the final climb of the day today, Martin went clear of the front of the peloton alongside Bardet, Romain Sicard of Europcar and rising French star Julian Alaphillippe of Omega Pharma Quickstep.
Having done much of the driving with Bardet to catch a leading quartet of Brice Felliu (Bretagne Seche), Carlos Verona (Omega Pharma Quickstep), Europcar's Romain Sicard and Guillaume Levarlet of Cofidis, the new front group held a 53 second gap on yellow jersey Lindeman with 13km to go.
Shortly after, Martin attacked the front group and went for broke in an effort to win the race outright.
Martin had 19 seconds lead with just 10km to go but the hard chasing Bardet and the steep slopes combined to see him reeled in with just 4km left.
A kilometre later Alaphillippe launched his bid for glory, catching the rest of the group by surprise and holding on to the line for the stage win while Martin led home the chase group for second on the stage and third overall in the mountainous stage race.
Related News
The Tour de l’Ain completes Martin’s run up to the Vuelta a Espana next week where he lines up as leader of the Garmin Sharp team.
Tour de l’Ain, France
Stage 4 Results 130.7 km
1 Julian Alaphillippe (Omega Pharma- QuickStep) en 3h23'12''
2 Dan Martin (Garmin - Sharp) @05’'
3 Carlos Verona (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) st
4 Guillaume Levarlet (Cofidis Solutions Crédit) st
5 Brice Feillu (Bretagne - Séché Environneme) st
6 Romain Sicard (Europcar) st
7 Romain Bardet (AG2R la Mondiale) st
8 Arnaud Gerard (Bretagne-Séché Environneme) @ 48''
9 Romain Hardy (Cofidis Solutions) Crédit) st
10 Marco Minnaard (Wanty - Groupe Gobert) st
Final General Classification
1 Bertjan Lindeman (Rabobank Development Team) 14h47'26''
2 Romain Bardet(AG2R la Mondiale) @11''
3 Dan Martin (Garmin - Sharp) @01’36''
4 Julian Alaphilippe (Omega Pharma - QuickStep) @ 02'16''
5 Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R la Mondiale) @2'27''
6 Rémi Di Gregorio (La Pomme Marseille) @ 02'42''
7 Romain Sicard (Europcar) st
8 Yoann Bagot (Cofidis ) @03’24''
9 Pierre-Roger Latour (Equipe de France) @ 03'26''
10 Grégoire Tarride Team La Pomme Marseille 13 FRA 03'28''
Topics
