Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin poised for fireworks on Mont Ventoux

The crowds were absolutely massive on the Tour de France today, where a breakaway triumphed ahead of Ventoux tomorrow.

By Gavin McLoughlin

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin safely finished with the overall favourites on stage 14 of the Tour de France today, Saturday.

The first 80 kilometres were hectic, but thereafter the Irish duo will have benefited from a relatively restful run as the peloton were content to allow a breakaway contest the stage victory.

Every piece of energy saved today will be used tomorrow as the Irish duo tackle the longest stage of the race, a 243 kilometre marathon from Givors to the summit of the legendary Mont Ventoux.

After their audacious tactical coup on Friday, Nicolas Roche and his Saxo-Tinkoff teammates will hope to help team-leader Alberto Contador take more time from race-leader Chris Froome tomorrow.

Froome has outclimbed Contador thus far so a showdown on the slopes of Ventoux seems unlikely to favour the Spaniard.

However, there is a closely-spaced trio of fourth-category hills in the early part of the stage, so perhaps Roche’s squad will be tempted to throw another curveball and take the fight to Team Sky from the very beginning.

Stage 9’s winner Dan Martin remains 11th overall, 5:52 behind the yellow jersey. Earlier in the week, the Garmin-Sharp leader spoke to stickybottle of his excitement at testing himself on Ventoux, and his deficit on general classification should mean the Irishman has some freedom to attack.

His triumph last Sunday was epic, but if Martin could manage to win atop the famous mountain it would be sweeter still.

Today the riders tackled a lumpy 191 kilometre trek from Saint-Pourcain-sur-Sioule to Lyon. Seven categorised climbs punctuated the undulating route, and with many teams still without a win at this race, pre-stage analysis suggested that it could well be a day for a breakaway victory.

With the exception of Peter Sagan (Cannondale), the terrain looked too difficult for the fast men, so if an escape group failed the Slovak was heavily tipped as the winner today.

The pace was electric in the opening kilometres as many fought to get into the break. Eventually an 18-man group managed to go clear, the protagonists including stage 2 winner Jan Bakelants (Radioshack-Leopard), Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Martin’s Garmin-Sharp teammates David Millar and Andrew Talansky.

Argos-Shimano, Euskaltel-Euskadi and Lampre-Merida had missed the move and for a time they kept the escapees on a short leash, but soon the bunch would settle down and the leaders’ advantage began to creep upward.

On the third category Côte de Thizy-les-Bourgs and with some 78 kilometres remaining, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Merida) jumped away from the bunch and tried to bridge across to the breakaway.

Hoogerland was the stronger of the two and after 12 kilometres of cooperation the Dutchman distanced Cunego, setting off in pursuit of the leaders alone.

Chris Froome’s Team Sky lieutenants spearheaded the main peloton but without any real urgency. Hoogerland realised he couldn’t close the gap without help, and before long he sat up and waited for Cunego to rejoin him.

Some 40 kilometres remained and the gap from breakaway to yellow jersey stood at 5:09. Increasingly it looked like the 18 escapees would make it to the finish, with Hoogerland and Cunego getting nowhere.

Onto the day’s penultimate climb, and with victory now assured for one of their number, the attacks came in the leaders’ group. France’s Julien Simon (Sojasun) managed to pull away as Millar and Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Leopard) were ejected out the rear.

Simon looked fresh as behind his chasers looked at each other. Blel Kadri (AG2R-La Mondiale) tired of the mind games and set off in pursuit, but Kadri couldn’t sustain his effort and Simon scaled the final climb alone with the roars of thousands of French fans ringing in his ears.

Inside the final kilometres and it looked like too few of the pursuers were taking their turn on the front. Simon, however, was beginning to tire. Marcus Burghardt (BMC) and Michael Albasini (Orica-Green Edge) did the most work, and the latter hauled the Frenchman in under the flamme rouge.

Only 12 men remained in a position to contest the stage victory, and Albasini and Jan Bakelants (Radioshack-Leopard) launched valiant long-range sprints. But Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) measured his effort best and the Italian crossed the line with his arms in the air to take his team’s second consecutive stage win.

Tomorrow is Bastille Day but there will be no holiday for the riders with Mont Ventoux looming large. It is likely to be a crucial day as far as the yellow jersey battle is concerned, and with Froome’s lieutenants looking vulnerable for the past week, there is a fair chance that the Briton will be attacked well before the famous climb.

Roche will ride for Contador tomorrow, but Martin is in with a real shout of glory.

His prospects are likely to depend on how the overall favourites approach the climb. Froome is expected to be the strongest but if he is content to mark his close rivals, the Garmin Sharp leader’s chances will be greatly increased.

Here’s hoping that Martin manages to steal the headlines.

@gavmcloughlin