Dan Martin gave it a good rattle off the front of the select group towards the end of the opening road stage at the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland.
Irish rider Dan Martin showed himself off the front of the select group on the final climb at the Tour de Romandie yesterday.
The finale of the 166km from Fribourg to Delémont was a little harder than the stage profile suggested.
Yellow jersey, and prologue TT winner, Michael Matthews (Sunweb) had been distanced on the climbs as the bunch was whittled down to a large select group.
On the uncategorised climb crested just 10km from the finish Martin shot from the bunch and opened up a very good gap within seconds.
Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) and Marco Minnaard (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) were just ahead at the time; the survivors from a five-man breakaway.
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Dan Martin closed them down quickly and pressed on. However, with Astana at the front of the group behind in numbers, the racing came back together a few kilometres later.
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10km to go, @DanMartin86 attacks & no one follows him. pic.twitter.com/dHGoSsLxtg
— Brain on Wheels ? (@BrainOnWheels) April 25, 2018
And riders who had been dropped on the final climb began to get back on, swelling the group to 55 at the end.
While there was kick up to the finish, the stage was decided in a sprint.
Omar Fraile (Astana) claimed it from Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida); the Italian fastman doing very well to get over the climbs but coming up just short.
Martin’s team mate Rui Costa rounded out the podium. With Matthews distanced on the final climb, he would eventually lose 5:14.
That saw him slip way down the standings. It fell to Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo), 3rd in Tuesday’s test, to take the race lead.
He is now equal on time with Rohan Dennis (BMC), with Team Sky duo Geraint Thomas and Diego Rosa next at four and five seconds respectively off the race lead.
Today's stage 2 from Delémont to Yverdon-les-Bains is a relatively flat 173.9km.
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