Dan Martin looks set to slay some of the demons of a patchy Grand Tour finishing record in an otherwise very impressive career today (Photo: Sirotti)
Dan Martin’s best ever Grand Tour final placing before this Vuelta a Espana was 13th in the race’s 2011 edition when he also won a mountain stage.
Apart from that one performance; for one of the best climbers in the world, a monument winner and a rider ranked sixth in the world at the end of last year, the Garmin Sharp’s Grand Tour overall performances have been patchy.
While he has his Vuelta stage win to his name and a Tour de France mountain stage last year in his palmares, his Grand Tour finishing placings are completely out of synch with the rider he is.
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He rode his first Grand Tour in 2009, taking 53rd overall in the Vuelta. The following year he would ride the Giro and finish 57th before coming 13th in the 2011 Vuelta and taking his stage win.
In 2012 he rode his first Tour de France and was 35th in Paris, before taking on both the Tour and the Vuelta last year.
Despite winning a stage in the Tour, he fell ill in the final week and slumped to 33rd, when he may have broken into the top 10 for the first time had things gone his way.
Joaquim Rodriguez leads countyman Alejandro Valverde and Fabio Aru, with Dan Martin next on the road on his own.
And while expected to set the Vuelta alight in the final part of the season to compensate for the Tour, he crashed heavily. And with road rash all over his body he was forced out.
Again, expectations of a podium before this year’s Giro were not unrealistic, but an opening stage crash took him out of the race as it was only getting underway.
While he crashed yesterday on stage 15 of this Vuelta, he battled hard to get back on and was a big mover overall; jumping from 10th to 7th.
And today, on another brutally hard stage when the finishing order mirrored the general classification standings, Martin jumped another placing.
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He went to 6th thanks to his a strong ride on another summit finish and Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), who was one place above the Irish rider this morning, suffering from respiratory problems and seeing his threat fall away.
Chris Froome and Alberto Contador proved strongest of the big names, pulling ahead on the summit finish of today's queen stage.
It means ahead of tomorrow’s rest day and with just five stages remaining, he is on track to finally make an impression on the top 10 of a Grand Tour.
And while he is some way off the top five, his aggressive style and the climbs still to come mean more progress, while difficult, is not impossible.
On today’s 160km trek from San Martín del Rey Aurelio to La Farrapona, race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) won what was the queen stage of this tour. He broke clear of the group of favourites with Chris Froome (Team Sky) before dropping him close to the top of summit finish after four cat 1 climbs.
Martin eventually came home in 7th place, some1:12 down.
The only person ahead of him on the road today who is not higher than him overall was Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale), who was the last survivor from the early escape. A factor underlining just how tough today’s race was.
Stage 16: San Martín del Rey Aurelio - La Farrapona (160km)
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 4:53:35
2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:15
3 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Cannondale 0:00:50
4 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:55
5 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:59
6 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:06
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin Sharp 0:01:12
8 Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:22
9 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:01:43
10 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin Sharp 0:01:48
11 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Shimano 0:01:51
12 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:00
13 Wout Poels (Ned) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:02:11
14 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale
15 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Team Sky 0:02:32
37 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:14:34
General Classification
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 63:25:00
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:36
3 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:39
4 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Team Katusha 0:02:29
5 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:03:38
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin Sharp 0:06:17
7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:06:43
8 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:06:55
9 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Shimano 0:08:37
10 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale 0:09:10
11 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:09:24
12 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:11:52
13 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Team Sky 0:13:16
14 Romain Sicard (Fra) Team Europcar 0:17:16
15 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:17:54
44 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 1:20:41
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