Dan Martin has brought his two-year tenure with UAE Team Emirates to an end with a top 20 ride in Il Lombardia.
The Irish rider's race was made harder today as he carried knocks into the Italian classic after a crash in Gran Piemonte (1.HC) on Thursday, when he placed 5th.
Martin (33) rode today's race with his wrist patched up after referencing that injury as a worry following his race on Thursday.
While he was in the lead group deep into today's 243km race to Como, as the leaders split he lost his place up front.
He eventually finished in 18th place, some 2:09 down on lone winner Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo).
Mollema took a solo victory after taking flight with 18km to go on the Civiglio climb. When those he attacked stalled a little the Dutch rider pulled out a gap.
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And though the chased group that formed behind him was a very strong one, Mollema held off for a memorable win, by far the biggest of his career.
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Behind him, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) attacked after Mollema, with Egan Bernal (Team Ineso) joining the Spanish rider.
Just before the finish Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) caught the duo. Valverde sprinted in for 2nd place some 16 seconds behind Mollema.
Bernal was just beaten into 3rd place with Fuglsang next over the line for 4th place.
There was then a gap of 18 seconds to the next trio - Michael Woods (EF Education First), Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma).
Roglic had attacked after Mollema but was unable to catch him and complained afterwards that the other favourites had raced to ensure he did not win.
However, Mollema took the race by the scruff of the neck and though he went solo from the penultimate climb, he had the legs to keep it going and never really looked like being caught.
For Dan Martin, the race was a somewhat underwhelming end to his time with UAE Team Emirates as he now moves on to Israel Cycling Academy for 2020.
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