Dan Martin chats to Bradley Wiggins about the latest breaking news on stickybottle.com as today’s stage gets underway
Daniel Martin remains within striking distance of the podium in the Volta a Catalunya despite not performing as well as he would have hoped today, the first climbing test of this year’s race.
The field was in tact heading up the final climb of the day to the summit finish after the early escapees were mopped up. However, despite Team Sky taking up the pace-making for leader Bradley Wiggins, the speed never looked outrageous.
Indeed, with around 2kms remaining the group still resembled a peloton even though riders were continuously spat out the back as the road got higher and the snow gathered by the roadside became more obvious.
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Martin could be seen sitting further back the group than one would have expected, and he looked laboured. When Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) attacked a couple of kilometers from the finish atop the climb at the Vallter 2000 ski resort, the group thinned out significantly as Team Sky pressed after him.
However, it was not until Wiggins put a massive burst in with 1km remaining that the diminished, but still relatively large, select group split; with Martin finding himself 20 riders back and at the wrong end of the gaps that Wiggins’ horsepower immediately opened.
When he eased back a little, it was the Colombian Movistar rider Nairo Quintana Rojas who pounced, sprinting up the last part of the climb and taking the stage win by six seconds from team mate and new race leader Alejandro Valverde. Jaoquim Rodriguez (Katusha) was in third and Wiggins fourth, both on the same time as Valverde.
Martin floundered a little and found himself back in 19th, at 32 seconds. However, he actually gained one place overall, moving from 10th to 9th, and is just 30 seconds down on leader Valverde, who came back to the sport last year after a doping related ban.
Nicolas Roche (Saxo Tinkoff) was annoyed with himself for missing the escape on the opening day that gained 28 seconds coming off the final climb on Monday. However, he was a lot further back today, coming home in 58th place at 2:41.
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He at least has the consolation of knowing he is far enough down overall – some 3:07 off the leader – to perhaps be allowed some leeway to go up the road if he decides on that course of action.
Indeed, his director on the race Dan Frost said the riders can forget about riding for the general classification and will instead have a free hand to attack.
Tomorrow is a mountain stage - much more challenging than today - and is also very long at 217km.
Stage 3: Vidreres - Vallter 2000-Setcases 180.1km
1 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 5:01:20
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:06
3 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha
4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling
5 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:00:09
6 Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Sharp
7 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-Merida
8 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida
9 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
10 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:00:21
11 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:25
12 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Sharp
13 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
14 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:27
15 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha
16 Egor Silin (Rus) Astana Pro Team 0:00:30
17 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:00:32
18 Robert Gesink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
19 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp
20 George Bennett (NZl) RadioShack Leopard
58 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:02:41
(There were 167 finishers)
General Classification
1 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 12:45:28
2 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:04
3 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha
4 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:07
5 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida
6 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:26
7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:00:30
8 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Sky Procycling
9 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp
10 Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Sharp 0:00:35
11 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
12 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ
13 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:00:47
14 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:51
15 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
16 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Sharp
17 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:53
18 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha
19 Egor Silin (Rus) Astana Pro Team 0:00:56
20 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:57
57 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:03:07
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