After gains made in the crosswinds on stage 10 into Albi boosting his Tour general classification chances, Dan Martin was forced to digest a rather large piece of reality in Pau today.
The UAE Team Emirates climber is best at going up hills and his TT has almost always let him down.
And so it came to pass today on stage 13 of Tour de France 2019; the 27.2km test proving a very challenging stage for him.
He finished a lowly 33rd, some 2:06 down on stage winner and yellow jersey sensation Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep).
Indeed, it is hard to find even one rider who finished below Dan Martin today who is still in the general classification hunt; Romain Bardet and Adam Yates at a push.
Yellow jersey Alaphilippe won the stage by 14 seconds from Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) with Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) in 3rd place at 36 seconds.
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Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First) finished on the same time was De Gendt in 4th.
And then came a series of the general classification men; all filling the positions in a Tour TT result that you expect to find credible general classification challengers.
Dan Martin's absence from that group, and his location way down the results, does not mean his GC hunt is over; far from it in fact.
He has dropped by two places in the overall to 11th, some 4:15 off yellow.
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The frustrating thing is that the gains he made on many of his riv rivals in the crosswinds have now been substantially neutralised.
But the UAE Team Emirates Irish rider now needs to take big chances if he is looking to get up into the top five or even into the top three.
There remains a long way to go in this Tour with very many mountains to be climbed; terrain Dan Martin can win stages on and move up the standings on.
He is now on the back foot and has nothing to lose; a recipe for aggressive racing from the Irishman, we hope.
Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) took a break today; finishing in 115th in the TT at 4:35.
One of the losers today was Egan Bernal; the Team Ineos man finishing 22nd at 1:35.
He is now 5th overall; some 2:52 off the race lead and 1:26 off his team mate and the defending champion Geraint Thomas who is 2nd overall 1:26 off the race leader.
For his part, Alaphilippe has not only retained his yellow jersey but has won the stage and become a legend of the Tour.
Stage 13 TT Pau-Pau (27.2km)
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:35:00.
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:35:14.91
3 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:35:36.10
4 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First 0:35:36.40
5 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:35:45.52
6 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:35:45.72
7 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:35:49.08
8 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:35:52.52
9 Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:35:58.41
10 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:36:01.34
General Classification
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 53:01:09
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:01:26
3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:12
4 Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:44
5 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos 0:02:52
6 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:04
7 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:22
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First 0:03:54
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:55
10 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
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