Dan Martin battles through the crowd-lined climbs of stage 11 of the Tour de France today, closing a near four-minute gap to bridge to the break. He caught and dropped all but one rider en route to his second runner-up place in this year's race (Photo: Sirotti)
By Brian Canty
Dan Martin has delivered a performance at the Tour de France this afternoon that ranks among his bravest ever.
The Cannondale-Garmin man may not have won today’s 188-kilometre 11th stage from Pau to Cauterets but in finishing runner-up to Rafal Majka (Tinkoff Saxo) he proved yet again just why he’s regarded as one of the most exciting talents in the sport.
He will perhaps be disappointed that his effort in bridging across to the seven-man break and later dropping all but one did not yield him a spot on the top step of the podium.
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But he was given some consolation by receiving the most aggressive rider prize while also leaping right into contention for the climbers’ classification.
After losing over 11 minutes yesterday, Martin said he would “regroup” and be “back in the game” today and was true to his word.
His team along with Lampre-Merida were keen to have someone in the break as they chased a lot of early moves when they had no representation up the road.
However, seven riders managed to get away after 85 kilometres and in there were former king of the mountains winners Majka and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), along with Serge Pauwels (MTN-Quebeka), Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Argon 18), Steve Morabito (FDJ), Arnaud Démare (FDJ) and Julien Simon (Cofidis).
Dan Martin lost a lot of time in the first 10 days of the Tour, but he really looked on song went the road went up today (Sirotti)
Clearly unhappy at having missed it – or sensing a stage win was in the offing - Martin went off in lone pursuit.
And at the time he went clear it looked like a grim task he had ahead of himself.
He was 3:40 down when he decided to give chase but when speaking to the press this morning it was clear he wanted to make amends for the bad day yesterday where the team’s best-placed finisher was Ryder Hesjedal, over eight minutes back.
"Obviously it was a bad day for us but we’ll find out when we get on the bike [how the legs are]," said Martin.
"I don’t know what our issue was; me and Andrew both had the same sensations. We just didn’t have any power left on the last climb.
“Whether it was the heat or whatever it was, it’s still a question mark for us but we regroup and move on. It’s still a long way to go in this race."
What made Martin’s pursuit of the break most impressive today was how he absolutely blitzed the first category climb of the Col d’Aspin, making the catch near the top and taking maximum points going over the summit.
At this point, even with 90 or so kilometres left to go, things looked very good for the break as they had around seven minutes on the bunch and no man in the move threatening the general classification.
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Incidentally, it was a day after Chris Froome and Richie Porte notched a 1-2 in the 2013 Tour that Martin won his one and only Tour stage to date, so the omens looked good for him again today.
The break pressed on towards the Tourmalet where the Irishman picked up 14 points for being fourth over the top.
On the top of that mountain Majka showed he is intent on going for the polka dot jersey again this year, taking maximum points from Pauwels and Buchmann.
Over the sixth and final categorised ascent, the category 3 Cote de Cauterets, it was now lone leader Majka first again followed by Martin, though the latter was 1:28 in arrears.
The gap from the eventual stage winner Majka to the remaining riders stretched to around two minutes, the effect of the long chase clearly affecting Martin.
The Irishman would drop Serge Pauwels in the final kilometres and make a desperate late bid to catch Majka.
But it proved too much to do and he crossed the line a minute down having given his all.
Things suddenly look a lot better for Martin; he's 16th overall now at 16:38, sixth in the climbers’ classification on 27 points - 30 behind Froome.
Fellow Irishmen Nicolas Roche was 54th over the line today, crossing the summit in a group 15:54 back while Sam Bennett was 158th at 32:34, his team doing another good job to get him inside the time limit.
There was no movement at the top end of general standings but the nightmare continues for Astana's defending champion, Vincenzo Nibali.
The Italian dropped out of the top 10 overall, replaced by Bauke Mollema (Trek) who gained 10 seconds on the favourites with a late dig.
Strangely enough, it was Astana who forced the pace on the Tourmalet trying to tee things up for Nibali but he clearly was not feeling up to it as he began to really suffer.
Tomorrow's stage is another brute with four categorised climbs in the Pyrenees, including the finish up Plateau de Beille which should again suit climbing ace Martin.
Stage 11: Pau to Cauterets (188km)
1. Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo
2. Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin at 1:00
3. Emmanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 at 1:23
4. Serge Pauwels (Bel) MTN-Qhubeka at 1:06
5. Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Europcar at 3:34
6. Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis at 3:34
7. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing at 5:11
8. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 5:19
9. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky at 5:21
10. Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo at 5:21
54. Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) @ 15:54
158. Sam Bennett (Bora Argon 18) @ 32:34
General Classification
1. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky
2. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 2:52
3. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 3:09
4. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 3:59
5. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky at 4:03
6. Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo at 4:04
7. Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto-Soudal at 4:33
8. Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo at 4:35
9. Warren Barguil (Fra) Giant-Alpecin at 6:44
10. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing at 7:05
16 Dan Martin (Garmin Cannondale) @16:38
52 Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) @ 49:59
173 Sam Bennett (Bora Argon 18) @ 1:51:29
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