Weak team effort major blow to Dan Martin big ambitions

Weak team effort major blow to Dan Martin big ambitions

Dan Martin was dealt a body blow but tomorrow represents a great chance and is a stage he was won before. Above, Movistar on its way to TTT victory at the Volta a Catalunya.

Having started as one of the favourites for the final podium, Dan Martin has suffered a major setback at Volta a Catalunya.

His QuickStep team put in a very poor ride in the undulating 41.3km stage 2 team time trial today in Banyoles.

They finished the day 10th of the 25 teams in the race, having lost significant time to Martin's rivals for the overall.

The stage was won by Movistar whose Alejandro Valverde is hoping to win the race overall.

They clocked a time of 48:55, beating Rohan Dennis and his BMC Racing into 2nd place by just two seconds.

And Team Sky's Chris Froome was 3rd, some 46 seconds down - with Irishman Philip Deignan also in that line-up.

While Movistar’s Jose Joaquin Rojas crossed the finish line first of his team and was later presented with the race leader’s jersey, he was then stripped of it.

On the course he had pushed team mates, which is against the rules, and was penalised by three minutes. It meant the race lead passed to Valverde.

Mountain to cimb for Dan Martin

The stage result means Dan Martin now has 2:13 to make up on Valverde.

He has 2:11 to claw back on Dennis, the recent Tirreno Adriatico runner-up, and 1:27 to make up on Froome.

Martin's team said it was going into the race with "big ambitions" and was hopeful of a spot on the final podium.

However, with its Catalunya line-up including three neo-pros a very long TTT was never going to have a happy ending.

Clawing back the lost time is not impossible for Martin, of course. And his losses today may result in the GC favourites giving him more leeway when he attacks.

That could play into his hands tomorrow when the climbers will dominate. The 188.3km stage 3 concludes with a 9km cat 1 ascent to the La Molina summit finish.

Dan Martin put in a fantastic ride on the stage last year to take victory and the leader's jersey.

He attacked a quality select group on the last kilometre with even the likes of Froome, Alberto Contador and Richie Porte unable to hold him.

After today's heavy losses he will be on the hunt to rescue his race.