Dan Martin faced a Vuelta time trial without much climbing to speak of, and while he moved up the general classification, he must go on the offensive to take a stage win or bully his way into a better overall position.
By Brian Canty
Ireland’s Dan Martin has continued his rise up the leader board at the Vuelta a Espana with a solid, though far from spectacular, race against the clock today.
The Garmin-SHARP man is now 13th overall after finishing 40th on the stage, 2:48 down on reigning world TT champion Tony Martin; the Omega Pharma-Quickstep man setting a blistering time of 47: 02 for the 36.7km test.
Dan Martin’s hopes of a high overall placing are now hanging by a thread, however, as he trails new race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) by 3:48.
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Today’s test was not suited to Martin’s climbing prowess and he would have liked a lot more climbing than the only rise of the day that peaked out at around six per cent.
After that, it was a straight downhill run to the finish; the type of terrain where he would be expected to lose time to the likes of Martin and second-placed Fabian Cancellara.
Alberto Contador comes home to finish 4th on the stage and take the race lead; a ride that looked like going a long way to winning another Grand Tour (Photo: Stefano Sirotti)
Other general classification men like Wilco Kelderman (Belkin), Robert Gesink (Belkin) and Fabio Aru (Astana) lost a similar chunk of time to Martin.
However, the Irishman is now just a minute outside the top 10, and with his team’s next best rider on general classification some 10 minutes down, Martin will at least have the full backing of his squad.
And with plenty of climbing to come before the race finishes the weekend after next, he has time to move up considerably overall.
The time he has lost thus far will perhaps also give him some leeway in trying to go clear in breakaways in a bid to both get a stage win and get into the top 10 overall; but attack he must, and undoubtedly will.
The only other Irishman in the race, Philip Deignan of Team Sky was 95th today; 4:25 down. He is now 56th overall, 32:40 down on new race leader Contador, who was 4th on today’s stage.
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The big news of the day was Nairo Quintana’s crash, which saw him lose over four minutes and drop way down the general classification.
The Movistar man, who started in the race leader’s red jersey this morning, said before the stage that he hoped to add the Vuelta to the Giro d’Italia crown he won in May.
However, on a descent today he overshot a bend and went off the road, hitting a roadside barrier and then flipping over his bike, crashing down hard on his back.
The Colombian did remount to finish, but only after needing a prolonged period by the roadside to gather himself.
And while he did his best to plough on, he would lose 4:07 to finish in 82nd place and slip to 11th overall, 3:25 down on the flying Contador.
The Spaniard, who crashed out of the Tour de France in July after breaking his leg in a fall on a slippery descent at speed, took a whopping 1:07 out of Chris Froome; the Team Sky leader’s problem-hit year not improving much on this race.
Chris Froome could only manage 10th today. However, with half the race still to come, his 5th overall just over one minute down is not yet a crisis.
Stage 10: Real Monasterio de Santa María - Borja (36.7km TT)
1 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:47:02
2 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:15
3 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:18
4 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:39
5 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:00:48
6 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:49
7 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:00:58
8 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:01
9 Jesse Sergent (NZl) Trek Factory Racing 0:01:13
10 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:32
11 Pieter Serry (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team
12 Jerome Coppel (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:35
13 Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 0:01:39
14 Romain Sicard (Fra) Team Europcar 0:01:45
15 Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre-Merida
40 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin Sharp 0:02:48
95 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:04:26
General Classification
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 36:45:49
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:27
3 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:59
4 Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre-Merida 0:01:12
5 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:18
6 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Team Katusha 0:01:37
7 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:01:41
8 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:27
9 Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:02:38
10 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale 0:02:59
11 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:25
12 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:03:29
13 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin Sharp 0:03:48
14 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Team Sky 0:03:50
15 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Shimano 0:04:11
56 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:32:40
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