Late crash denies Dan Martin crack at podium after powerful Lombardy display

Dan Martin seen here close to his best at the Tour of Lombary today after a tough few months in which he fell ill in the final week of the Tour de France and crashed out of the Vuelta a Espana.

By Gavin McLoughlin

Dan Martin finished fourth after a crash denied him the chance to fight for a podium spot at the Tour of Lombardy today, Sunday.

In a technical, rain-soaked finale, the Irishman came off his bike at the final corner and was unable to dispute third place with Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff).

Prior to the fall, Martin had been among the best, constituting part of a three-man chase group locked in pursuit of breakaway leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) on the ten-kilometre descent to the finish line.

But the trio failed to organise themselves effectively and this moved Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) to surge ahead and leave Martin alongside Majka.

But Rodriguez could not be caught and he would go on to claim the victory as wonderful consolation for a near-miss at the Worlds last week. Valverde got home in second, with Majka taking that uncontested third.

Saxo-Tinkoff’s Nicolas Roche was also in action and he laboured hard in service of team leader Alberto Contador. The Irishman briefly got up the road as part of a twenty-man escape group, and was prominent in toil on the front of the bunch on the Colma di Sorano.

The final part of that climb contains sections of greater than 25% gradient in a legendary two-kilometre expanse of hell known as the Muro di Sormano, and it was here that Roche fell behind. His work done for the day, the Irishman was able to abandon the race and bring his season to a close.

The final Monument of 2013 presented the field with five tough climbs in the course of a 242-kilometre slog from Bergamo to Lecco. The critical action looked likely to occur on the final of those, the severe 3.2-kilometre Villa Vergano which peaked with 10 kilometres to go.

There were a couple of early escape groups but both were caught in time for Roche to get up the road with a large group as about 100 kilometres remained. The race came back together on the Colma di Sorano, and it was on this slope that Roche made others hurt, grimacing with exertion as he led the way toward the summit.

Tour de France runner up Nairo Quintana (Movistar) produced a burst of speed near the top and it was he who was the first to begin an extremely fast and technical descent that fractured the group of favourites to bits. Martin was among those who fell behind as Quintana managed to get himself in the lead alongside teammate Valverde and Enrico Gasparotto of Astana, and soon they were joined at the head of the race by Italian champion Ivan Santaromita (BMC) and Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha).

But this group’s time out front would not last long as Europcar’s offbeat Frenchman Thomas Voeckler caught and rode past the quintet to launch a speculative long-range stab at glory. Quickly he established a decent lead as the rain poured, contorting his face in just about every manner possible.

It looked for a time as though Voeckler might have a shot at pulling off an epic heist, but behind him the favourites were back together and had their sights firmly set on glory. Roche’s teammate Michael Rogers and Rodriguez’s Katusha domestiques powerfully pulled the bunch along, and ultimately the Frenchman would be swallowed up on the final slope.

The stage was set for the attacks to begin and Voeckler’s compatriot Thibaut Pinot was among the initial aggressors. But when Rodriguez decides to explode up a ramp, there are none in cycling who can match him.

The Spaniard soared away as Martin fought hard to keep hope alive, and still the Irishman was in with a shout when the road plunged downward. Valverde and Majka were the Irishman’s companions, but the trio failed to gel productively and the win was thus lost.