Dan Martin gave himself a mountain to climb, but he climbed it with a fantastic final day.
Dan Martin seizes the day at Dauphiné
Dan Martin has finished 3rd overall at the Criterium du Dauphiné after a final day on the attack in France.
The Irishman looked like he had left himself too much to do to repeat his 3rd place overall last year.
But when he tested the waters on what was a savage 115km last stage, he found he had the upper hand on the biggest names in the race.
The QuickStep rider went clear with Friday's stage winner Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) on the final climb; the hors categorie to Plateau de Solaison.
Dane Fuglsang would drop Martin and go on to win the stage and the overall.
However, Martin rode an excellent final climb, never panicking when his breakaway companion distanced him.
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He held the eventual winner at a gap of a little over 10 seconds up the final kilometres and in the end it was just 12 seconds.
And when Richie Porte (BMC Racing) lost 1:15 to the stage winner, that was enough for Fuglsang to take the final yellow jersey.
Because all of those ahead of Martin this morning, except Fuglsang, faltered; the Irish rider rocketed up the general standings.
He had begun the stage in 8th place overall, some 2:31 down on Porte. He was 1:29 down on Chris Froome in 2nd and 1:16 off Fuglsang in 3rd.
But the stage proved so decisive, with aggressive racing on the four major climbs, that the standings were turned on their head.
The only other Irishman in the race, Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) would finish 99th in a large group 26:22 down. He was 45th overall.
A final day to remember
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The attacking started on the opening climb; the Col des Saisies. Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) attacked and crested it first, with Froome and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) putting in accelerations behind to test Porte.
There was a repeat on the cat 2 Col des Aravis, with Froome attacking after an escape that included team mates Michal Kwiatkowski and David López.
However, they were caught going down the climb and nearing the halfway point of the stage a lead group of around 20 riders formed.
Race leader Porte was in that large lead group along with all the big names, including Dan Martin.
But on the Col de la Colombière the men who would shape the stage began to show themselves.
Valverde and Fabio Aru (Astana) attacked and were chased by Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), Martin and Fuglsang.
Alberto Contador (Trek Segafredo) led another group chasing them, but Porte and Froome stayed in what remained of the group of favourites.
However, closer to the top Froome attacked and got rid of Porte and went chasing the men ahead.
As they neared the Plateau de Solaison climb, it looked like it was Froome’s to lose.
He had caught Martin, Fuglsang and the others, with just Valverde and Aru dangling out front. And Porte was now stranded behind; at 1:30 and with no team mates.
But with 7km remaining to the top of the climb, Fuglsang and Martin attacked and they would go on to distance all of the others.
All the while Porte chased desperately behind in the hopes of retaining his yellow jersey.
However, the main threat to yellow did not come from Froome. It was Fuglsang who gained all the time he needed to jump from 3rd overall onto the top of the final podium.
And Martin would complete that podium, with Porte 2nd, after what was a really fantastic display.
But the Dane and the Irishman have scored huge psychological blows against the men expected to be challenging for Tour de France.
The fact that he was clearly better than the big names today just 24 hours after he first dropped then on this race will give him huge confidence going into the Tour de France.
And with Froome clearly not in is usual form this year; the first three weeks in July could be even more dramatic than usual.
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