Dan Martin's QuickStep line it out as all Team Sky left red-faced
Dan Martin's team, on the front, produced another quality performance at the Volta A Catalunya this afternoon. He would finish 10th on the stage and moved up to 6th overall.
By Brian Canty
Irish rider Dan Martin and his QuickStep team have had a strong day at the Volta A Catalunya. As a result he has climbed to sixth overall.
He was as low as 58th overall following Tuesday’s disastrous team time-trial effort. QuickStep lost 2:09 to winners BMC Racing.
But Martin has climbed higher overall each day but one since then.
He moved up to 14th on Wednesday after going for the stage win. And he nudged higher to 9th yesterday.
He was top 10 for the fourth time on a stage this week today. His teammate Petr Vakoc was fourth in the same time as stage winner Daryl Impey (Orica-SCOTT).
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Martin, narrowly beaten for victory on stage 3, is now 2:19 down on race leader Alejandro Valverde.
He is just 1:13 off the podium. But there is just one stage remaining. The finishing circuit tomorrow may offer him a chance for stage victory. It contains a small climb that might do so damage.
There was a significant shake-up in the general standings this afternoon. Chris Froome (Team Sky) would lose a whopping 26 minutes.
Team Sky offered up no excuses afterwards. They simply said they were caught out by a split in the peloton on the day’s first climb.
Froome found himself distanced by his GC rivals on the climb. And a gap was forged on the descent of the cat 3 climb Alt de Bot.
It was Dan Martin’s team who did much of the driving, with Team Sky failing to place even one rider in the group of around 50.
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Top, Impey wins the stage. Above, Froome goes further and further out the back, a very rare sight.
“We went full gas in the first part of the stage. We knew it could have been crucial. And there was a good chance to make the difference there," Martin said.
“We brought seven guys to the front. And we were all committed to give everything and ride really hard.
"I think we can be proud of our job and of showing again our fantastic fighting spirit,” he said.
QuickStep, Orica-SCOTT and Lotto-JumboNL all rode on the front. And before the peloton hit Alt de Falset at 120km the gap was over five minutes.
With six climbs to be negotiated it meant Team Sky were on the back foot early. And even with the assistance of his entire squad Froome could do nothing to limit the damage.
Team Sky riders tried to make amends
Peter Kennaugh rode so hard that he missed the time limit while Mikel Landa withdrew.
Philip Deignan, to his credit, rode hard for Froome. He crossed the line in the same group as him in 110th.
“All it took was one rider a few wheels ahead of me to let the wheel go," said Froome.
“On a really technical descent like that there was no way of getting round to close the gap.
“We chased really hard for about 50 kilometres. But we were making no ground on a group of that size ahead of us. So we had to call it a day at that point.”
Tomorrow's final stage is just 138 kilometres. But the riders must climb up Montjuic (165m) eight times.
However, as Martin is 55 seconds off Steven Kruijswijk (Lotto-JumboNL) in fifth it's unlikely he will move up.
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