Dan Martin has retained his 3rd place overall at La Vuelta during today's stage 7 when the strongest men from the breakaway survived to fight for stage victory.
The Israel Start-Up Nation rider finished safely in what remained of the peloton some 56 seconds after Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) claimed the stage after jumping clear of the surviving breakaway riders.
Woods had pulled clear of the large escape in a five-man group that also contained Omar Fraile (Astana), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale).
Woods finished four seconds ahead of Fraile and Valverde, with Peters and Martin a further four seconds back followed by 10 more breakaway men before what remained of the peloton.
That time gain by Valverde - of 52 seconds on the top GC riders - brings him back into contention.
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Even though he only moved up one place overall, he is now 2:03 off race leader Richard Carapaz having been three minutes down on the Ineos Grenadiers rider this morning.
Dan Martin finished in the 50-rider group some 56 down on Woods, alongside all of the main favourites. It means Carapaz still leads overall by 18 seconds on Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling), with Martin next at 20 seconds.
Tomorrow's stage should be a showdown for the general classification men as the racing finishes atop the 11.3km Alto de Moncalvillo.
The climb features an average gradient of 7.6 per cent but is over 10 per cent for most of the latter part of the ascent.
The only other Irish rider in the race, Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep), was 157th today in a group 16:58 down. He may get a chance at a bunch sprint finish on Thursday to add to his stage victory on stage 4.
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