Dan Martin digs deep during the mountain TT to Megève today. A stage win now will be very hard, but the signs are good (Photo: Sirottti)
Having put in a decent ride in the mountain time trial on the Tour de France today, Dan Martin remains in the top 10, just about.
The Etixx-QuickStep rider was leap-frogged by young South African Louis Meintjis (Dimension Data) with the two changing places in 9th and 10th.
The gaps between Martin and everyone ahead of him overall increased today, with all of those better placed beating him in the 17km test.
However, those 2nd and 3rd overall – Bauke Mollema and Adam Yates – only finished three seconds faster, both recording the same time.
At this stage of the race, with two days in the mountains to be followed by the final stage into Paris, there may still be big prizes ahead of Martin.
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He said in recent days he remains confident and is still hoping for some good results.
Tomorrow’s stage 19 would appear to be the one that suits him best; the 146km leg from Albertville involving a summit finish at Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc.
The following day, Saturday, also features plenty of climbing but there is almost 10km of descending and a final flat run in to the finish in Morzine.
Martin is a good sprinter on the flat – especially against fellow climbers – and he is also not afraid to lay it all on the line with a late attack, winning Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2013 and Giro di Lombardia in 2014 with late solo moves.
But a summit finish would suit him better.
And if this Tour has shown anything it is that the top GC men are hard to get away from on the summit finishes (Martin has tried several times and come up short) and that an escape will likely be up the road fighting for the stage win anyway.
It means, to win, Martin very probably needs to go in a breakaway tomorrow.
With riders and teams now all willing to fight to hold their places in the top 10, getting clear will not be easy.
But Martin is 2:21 off Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) in 5th. He is 3:02 of Yates in 3rd and 7:18 off yellow jersey Froome.
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The gaps just might be big enough for him to be allowed some leeway if he tried to get up the road before the final climb to the finish; easier said than done of course.
Whether he will have the legs to do it is another matter, but the signs are good.
He has been riding with much more consistency in stage races of late, bagging 3rd in the
Volta a Catalunya where he also won a stage and 3rd in the Critérium du Dauphiné.
On both occasions he moved onto the podium on the final day with canny and strong riding.
And generally speaking this year he seems to have his mojo - not quite back, as he never lost it, but enhanced.
The switch from Cannondale to Etixx-QuickStep seems to have put even more pep in his step.
His ride in the Dauphiné was most impressive as he was attacking the general classification favourites at the back end of the week, even gapping winner Chris Froome (Team Sky) with a blistering kick on the penultimate stage.
In the past in Grand Tours Martin has crashed and ended up with performance impairing injuries or he has been unable to sustain his form for three weeks.
But his 7th place in the Vuelta in 2014 confirmed he can be a general classification contender.
And even if he simply maintains 10th place to Paris, those two results combined with the fact that he is still the right side of 30 years suggest he can and should continue to aim for the GC in coming years.
A top 10 in the Tour would be a very good result and would really put him in good stead for the Olympics and indeed the Vuelta.
But he came into the Tour looking for a stage win and stickybottle feels that plan is still intact, though obviously the time is nigh.
Stage 18: Sallanches - Megève (17km ITT)
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:30:43
2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:21
3 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:33
4 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:42
6 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:02
7 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:03
8 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:01:05
9 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Lampre - Merida 0:01:08
10 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:10
11 Jerome Coppel (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:01:15
12 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:18
13 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff Team 0:01:20
14 Stef Clement (Ned) IAM Cycling 0:01:22
15 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:23
16 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange
17 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:25
18 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:01:28
19 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:38
20 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:44
171 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18 0:06:04
General Classification
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 77:55:53
2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:52
3 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 0:04:16
4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:04:37
5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:57
6 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:05:00
7 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:06:08
8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:37
9 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Lampre - Merida 0:07:15
10 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:07:18
11 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:08:11
12 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff Team 0:08:23
13 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ 0:12:40
14 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:17:30
15 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:22:24
16 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac 0:22:51
17 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:27:54
18 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:30:23
19 Stef Clement (Ned) IAM Cycling 0:32:37
20 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:35:54
177 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18 4:16:06
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