Dan Martin tried at the end of today's stage 14 of La Vuelta to pull a little time back on his general classification rivals but came up short.
The Israel Start-Up Nation rider was in the favourites' group almost four minutes behind the winning breakaway. But in the final few hundred metres he sprinted forward on the uphill finish in a bid to take seconds from the three men ahead of him in the general standings.
However, while Martin won the sprint from the group to take 8th place on the stage, his effort wasn't enough to force any time gaps just behind him.
And when Martin crossed the line and immediately glanced back to assess the damage he had caused, the others in the group were right behind him.
Today's result means Martin's GG position hasn't change, with the Irish rider still 4th and some 55 seconds down on 3rd placed Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) and 1:42 off race leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma).
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Today's stage took the riders 204.7km from Lugo to Ourense, with a short sharp climb to finish and with the breakaway men surviving to fight for the spoils.
At the front of the race six riders contested the finish, with Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) prove strongest on the uphill finish.
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Wellens, who like Woods had already won a stage before today, proved the most street-wise on the technical uphill finish. The Belgian rider made sure he got ahead in a final few hundred metres where it was very difficult to pass due to the turns in the road.
Woods looked strongest but Wellens's position and the route he took was far superior, meaning he ran out the winner, with Woods 2nd followed by Zdeněk Štybar (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers), all on the same time.
Marc Soler (Movistar) was 5th, of what was a top class breakaway, at 11 seconds followed by Thymen Arensman (Team Sunweb) two seconds later.
French rider Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis) was dropped from the breakaway but managed to survive to take 7th on the stage, some 3:11 down on Wellens,
And 33 seconds later it was Dan Martin who sprinted in across the line to take 8th place, at the front of a group of 19 riders who all finished on the same time as him.
Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was back in 120th some 6:50 down; focused on survival and biding his time to try for another stage win before this race ends on Sunday.
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