Dan Martin went on the attack on stage 11 at the Tour de France today and while the early signs suggested he was on a good day, his challenge faded on the first of two ascents of Mont Ventoux.
Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) was initially in a four-man breakaway with Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels p/b KTM), world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Anthony Perez (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits).
The Irishman took maximum points on the cat 1 Col de la Liguière before his breakaway was joined by a 13-man chasing group with 100km remaining on the 198.8km stage from Sorgues to Malaucène.
Soon after the two groups became one, the breakaway split on the first passage of Mont Ventoux and Martin was on the wrong side of that split. He was then distanced by the second half of the breakaway on the climb.
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Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) proved too strong for the front group; the Belgian star riding away on the second passage of the climb. He had too much for the trio that stayed with him the longest; world champion Alaphilippe and Trek-Segafredo's Bauke Mollema and Kenny Elissonde.
Van Aert crested the top of the climb for the second time on his own and then descended into the finish to win impressively. Behind him, the peloton became a select group. The strongest men from that group caught all of those in the early breakaway aside from Mollema and Elissonde, who finished 2nd and 3rd at 1:14.
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Ineos Grenadiers had pulled for much of the stage on front of the yellow jersey group in a bid to drop Richard Carapaz's rivals for the final podium. But when all of the British team's men were used up it was Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) who proved strongest of the GC group.
The young Dane attacked on the upper slopes of the second passage of Ventoux, with only race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates) able to follow. Carapaz and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Nippo) were just behind them on the road.
Vingegaard then dropped Pogačar as the race leader showed the first signs of weakness since the Tour began. However, after they went over the top of the climb Pogačar was caught by Carapaz and Urán and they managed to catch Vingegaard before the finish.
On the line, Pogačar took the sprint for 4th place, some 1:38 down on Van Aert. Urán was next, then Carapaz and Vingegaard. The result meant the race leader held yellow. However, he did so having faltered a little and offered the first hope that the race has not already crowned its winner by the halfway point.
One of the big losers of the day was Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën); the stage 9 winner who had moved up to 2nd overall after taking that win. He was dropped today by the GC group on the second passage of Ventoux and finished in 15th place; slipping from 2nd to 5th overall.
Urán is now up to 2nd place at 5:18 and Vingegaard is up to 3rd, at 5:32. Dan Martin paid for his early breakaway efforts and faded to 69th today at 24:38 ahead of what looks like a sprinters' stage tomorrow into Nîmes.
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