Dan Martin digs deep up the famed steep slopes of the Mur de Huy; taking his best result of the season and pegging back some of the time lost yesterday (Photo: Sirotti)
By Brian Canty
Dan Martin has put in an excellent performance on stage three of the Tour de France this afternoon, giving the clearest indication yet that he’s ready to contend for stage honours and contest the general classification in the race.
The Cannondale-Garmin man was fourth on today’s leg from Anvers to Huy, but has leapt up the overall standings to 20th after a truly dramatic stage.
The big talking point was the horror crash that occurred with 65 kilometres remaining when FDJ rider William Bonnet went down hard as the pace was really on, causing a huge pile-up behind.
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Such was the severity of the smash that race director Christian Prudhomme stopped and neutralised the race to allow the medical staff complete the treatment of injured riders and rejoin the cavalcade behind the peloton.
The riders were stopped for close to 10 minutes before starting again behind a race car that paused proceedings until the summit of the Côte de Bohisseau, with 50km to go.
There had been a breakaway of four riders clear when the spill happened, including Serge Pauwels (MTN-Qhubeka), Martin Elmiger (IAM), Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18) and Bryan Nauleau (Europcar).
Rodriguez takes a fantastic win, and with it the climbers' jersey, atop the Mur de Huy (Photo: Sirotti)
Their lead was re-instated but as expected, their time out front was short-lived as a frantic chase ensued behind, with Martin’s Cannondale-Garmin doing some strong turns on the front, albeit with the help of Team Sky and Tinkoff Saxo.
One of the biggest casualties, and there were many, was the yellow jersey of Fabian Cancellara who was seen somersaulting over his handlebars and landing on the verge of scorched grass on compacted clay thanks to the warm weather.
The Trek Factory Racing man got back up but looked in a world of pain.
He would restart when the race was given the go-ahead but he would eventually cross the line 11:42 down on the winner and his reign in the yellow jersey is well and truly over.
The maillot jaune now rests on the shoulders of Team Sky’s Chris Froome who was second on the stage behind Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).
Froome set a blistering tempo on the final climb up to the finish line and put several big-name contenders under huge pressure, one of whom was his chief rival Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo).
Contador managed to cling on for 12th but conceded 18 seconds to Froome and that will be a considerable blow to the Spaniard’s confidence, though not his general classification chances.
Rodriguez timed his effort to perfection, springing clear as the head of the race began to splinter.
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Martin looked like he had what it took to win but appeared to be boxed-in when Froome mounted his stinging acceleration.
He came from perhaps more than 20 riders back more than halfway up the climb to 4th.
Still, he’ll be pleased to be back racing at the sharp end of things after a difficult year so far.
The other Irishmen, Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) and Sam Bennett (Bora Argon 18) crossed the line in 103rd and 189th, respectively.
Roche was 6:18 down on Rodriguez while Bennett was 11:45 behind. Roche is now is 112th overall at 11:18 while Bennett is 148th at 14:17.
Tomorrow's stage sees the riders tackle a relatively flat 223-kilometre journey from Seraing to Cambrai with just one category four climb after around 50 kilometres to negotiate.
However, the cobbles will feature in the race for the second year in succession, with the organisers including 13.3km of pavé over seven sections.
Wet weather made the 2014 cobbles stage a dangerous affair for the riders, who will be hoping for some drier weather this time around.
Stage 3: Anvers to Huy - 159.6km
1 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 3:26:54
2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:00
3 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:04
4 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin 0:00:05
5 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:00:08
6 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:11
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:11
8 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge 0:00:11
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:11
10 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:11
103 Nicolas Roche (IRL) Team Sky @6.18
189 Sam Bennett (IRL) Bora Argon 18 @11.45
General Classification
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 7:11:37
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:01
3 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:13
4 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:00:26
5 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:28
6 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:31
7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:34
8 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:36
9 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:03
10 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:01:04
20 Dan Martin (IRL) Garmin Cannondale) @2.06
112 Nicolas Roche (IRL) Team Sky @11.18
148 Sam Bennett (IRL) Bora Argon 18 @14.17
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