Irish rider Dan Martin survived getting caught out in the early crosswinds. But he paid the price for riding in gravel by the roadside late in the stage; suffering a puncture. There were no such problems for yellow jersey Geraint Thomas. Once more, he looked the strongest of the general classification men. The last week, which has traditionally been his unraveling in the Grand Tours, now looms large.
Dan Martin took a risk and paid for it on Tour de France
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Dan Martin punctured about 1km from the final climb on stage 14 of the Tour de France and lost almost two minutes to his rivals.
The UAE Team Emirates rider only slipped one place in the general classification; from 9th to 10th.
But the time loss means any hopes of nudging back up the standings, and possibly into the top five or six, have very much faded.
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“On the side of the road where I was riding there was gravel. It was a risk, but it happens,” Martin said of his late puncture.
He had recovered very early in the stage after being caught out in crosswinds when echelons formed. In time he got back to the front of the race. But it was energy expended.
“It was a hard start,” he said of the crosswinds. “But everybody knew it was going to smaller roads, so nobody really panicked. Strange day; a really strange day.”
The racing took the riders 188km from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Mende. And with a short sharp climb at the end it looked like a profile that might suit the Irishman.
However, a large group broke clear and would gain over 20 minutes on the peloton at one point. The race split into two separate battles; one for stage victory and one for the overall.
And in the fight for the stage win it was Omar Fraile (Astana) who took flight from the breakaway on the final climb to win.
Top down: Fraile wins for Astana. Alaphilippe might have won but left his effort late. Team Sky in the early crosswinds that split the pack.
Belgian Jasper Stuyven (Trek – Segafredo) had broken clear from the escape to try and build a gap before the climb.
However, he was caught and passed on the hill by Fraile. Just behind the winner, king of the mountains Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep) rode away from the rest of the escape.
However, he left his move too late to catch Fraile; finishing six seconds behind in 2nd with Stuyven in 3rd on the same time.
And in 4th place was the green jersey man Peter Sagan; the Bora-hansgrohe rider coping very well with the final climb.
But it was back the road, in the general classification battle, that it was felt higher drama might play out.
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In the end what was left of the peloton split to pieces and the big three pulled clear; yellow jersey Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome of Team Sky along with Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb).
Mikel Landa (Movistar) attacked first but his surge was modest. And it was left to Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) to make a more decisive acceleration.
When he went, Team Sky still had Egan Bernal and Michal Kwiatkowski on the front of what was now a select group numbering no more than twenty men.
They upped the pace a little but gained no ground of Roglic, who is 4th overall and enjoying a brilliant Tour.
But the pace of that action put Dumoulin into difficulty, and Froome also look vulnerable. Not so the yellow jersey; Geraint Thomas once again looking by far the strongest.
Dumoulin would pace himself and ride back on. And when he did he attacked, bringing Thomas and Froome with him.
And that’s how it stayed to the line; Roglic finishing on his own in 29th place, some 18:01 down. He was the first over the finish line of the non-breakaway men.
And then just eight seconds later came Froome, Dumoulin and Thomas; in that order and on the same time.
After that the rest of the field finished most in ones, twos and threes; Nairo Quintana (Movistar) next to the big three – some 10 seconds behind them.
Then came Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Bernal and Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale).
Those three were 14 seconds behind the yellow jersey trio. But their slipping back was further confirmation that Bardet is not the same rider he was on this race 12 months ago.
As for Dan Martin; he did as well as could be expected for a man who punctured just before the proverbial hit the fan on such a brutish late climb.
He would finish 1:43 behind the yellow jersey, but he picked off a lot of riders as he battled up the climb. Indeed, there were only 13 men between him and the Bardet group on the finish line.
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) finished 1:14 ahead of Martin and he moves ahead of the Irishman by one place overall.
The result and the time loss means Dan Martin is now 6:54 down on Thomas.
To move back into 9th he would need to gain 40 seconds on Fuglsang. And even a move up to 8th requires a 2½ minute gain on Quintana.
Yellow jersey shake-up
In the race for the final yellow jersey; Geraint Thomas looks more like the 2018 Tour de France champion every day.
However, there are steep climbs to come – steeper than in the Alps - that will not suit him as well. And only time will tell whether he runs out of gas in the third week as he always has done.
But those third week slumps have come in the past after he has ridden for a fortnight other riders; mostly Froome.
It means this time he faces the final third of the race having burnt fewer matches and in better form anyway.
It also remains unclear if Froome will continue to get stronger relative to the other riders, as he did on the Giro, or fade precisely because he rode the Giro.
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