When Dan Martin attacked the select group responded and got onto his wheel. But when he kept going, nobody could hold him.
The highlights footage below from Thursday’s stage 6 of the Vuelta - 200km from Córdoba to Alto de Cazorla - shows Dan Martin looking like he's in some of the best condition of his career.
With 11.5km remaining it was Tour de France stage winner Steve Cummings of MTN Qhubeka who attacked solo.
Behind him the field was splitting to pieces on the very testing run-in; with the last 20km consisting of near constant climbing before the road really kicked up steeply inside the last 3km.
Cummings was slowly pegged back until the final section of climbing saw him lose momentum completely and his lead fall below 15 seconds.
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At that point stage 2 winner Esteban Chaves (Orica GreenEDGE) pounced from the bunch and pressed hard all the way to the finish though there was still 2.3km of very steep climbing to the finish line.
Race leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin) went after him with 1.8km still to race and when it became clear the Colombian was not slowing down.
And in the attacking behind, Martin put in a massive dig which the select group initially responded to.
However, they were simply unable to hold his wheel; the Irish international having too much in his legs for some of the best riders in the world to deal with.
Martin would close down Dumoulin but could not get Chaves back; his move with just over 1km remaining perhaps leaving himself with too much to do and not enough road to do it.
Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) also put in a great ride to come home in 10th.
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Despite doing some work on the front of select group in the last couple of kilometres to ensure team leader Chris Froome lost no time, Roche still had the legs to attack with 600m remaining.
His move, captured in the footage below, was closely marked by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).
However, Roche’s acceleration thinned out the group to ensure another top 10 placing.
Martin’s runner-up slot was his third in a Grand Tour this year after finishing 2nd on stages 8 and 11 of the Tour last month before falling ill and struggling to Paris.
But given the acceleration he showed today and with lots of climbing still to come, his first victory of the season can’t be too far away.
In the clip below jump to 17:20 for Martin's attack and the final 1km of action.
Dan Martin's blistering attack
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