Dan Martin put in a solid rather than spectacular shift at the Critérium du Dauphiné, but for the first time this season he has begun to look his old self.
Dan Martin may have faltered on the final climb of the Critérium du Dauphiné on today's concluding stage 8, but he leaves the race with his self confidence and form very much on an upward trajectory.
The Cannondale-Garmin man has had a testing season with crashes and related injuries but when the race was run today he found himself 8th overall with just three weeks left to the Tour de France.
Martin dropped some of the best climbers in the race on Friday's stage 6 when he went off in pursuit of a breakaway of heavy hitters that had gone clear early in the stage.
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And yesterday he looked very comfortable as the opening exchanges of the climb to the summit finish were played out, though he would puncture and come home in 13th after a slow wheel change.
Today he was in a very similar position when Chris Froome (Team Sky) took the race to yellow jersey Tejay van Garderen (BMC) on the slopes of the cat 1 Modane Valfréjus.
Ireland’s Dan Martin on his way to stage 9 victory of the Tour de France two years ago. He looks to be coming into the form he would need to animate next month's event.
It was on the summit of that climb that the stage and race for final yellow ended.
Froome won the stage and put 18 seconds into van Garderen; the very same margin the American had led the Briton in the general standings starting this morning.
And with a 10-second stage win bonus, he took the final yellow jersey from van Garderen by that measure.
Martin was on the back of the Froome-led group as it whittled down to no more than 10 riders.
His team had hit the front earlier; racing into the base of the final ascent before Vincenzo Nibali of Astana took over and put everyone under pressure.
In the end Martin was 7th after Froome split the field on the climb. He was just 31 seconds down and climbed one place to 7th overall; some 2:52 down on Froome.
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Martin would have liked a stage win at some point over the past week; his frustration at being left to wait so long for a wheel change yesterday proof he was up for it.
And while 7th overall and a best of 6th on a stage are not exactly results that will jump out of the palmares of a man who has won monuments, UCI stage races and stages in Grand Tours; the results may prove the first chapter of a brighter second half of the season for him.
Philip Deignan (Team Sky) put in another considerable ride for well over an hour today on the front in the service of Froome.
Nicolas Roche was kept in reserve to ride for Froome on the final climb.
However, when Nibali hit the front on the lower slopes in a bid to set up team mate Scarponi, his turn blew the front group apart and an under pressure Roche was one of the casualties before Froome eventually took over and flew up the mountain.
Stage 8: Saint-Gervais-les-Bains to Modane Valfréjus (156.5km)
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 3:59:27
2 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge 0:00:18
3 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida
4 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
5 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:28
6 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:00:31
8 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:44
9 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar
10 Benat Intxausti (Spa) Movistar Team
49 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:05:56
71 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:11:08
Final General Classification
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 30:59:02
2 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:10
3 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida 0:01:16
4 Benat Intxausti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:21
5 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge 0:01:33
6 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:05
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:02:52
8 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:03:06
9 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:12
10 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:04:17
37 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:50:09
43 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:52:35
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