Dan Martin went on the attack on the climbs at Critérium du Dauphiné in pursuit of one of the best breakaways of the year to date (Photo: Sirotti)
Dan Martin may have slipped one place overall on the testing 183km road from Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur to Villard-de-Lans at Critérium du Dauphiné but his performance reveals a man coming into form as the Tour de France fast approaches.
The Irishman did not make the key escape of the day which contained heavy hitters Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep).
While Nibali’s form has been questionable leading up to his defence of the Tour de France title next month, the Italian national champion hit out for home with around 115km on today’s stage 6.
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On the Col de Grimone, the fourth climb of the day, Nibali jumped clear after a frenetic two hours of racing and built a lead going up the climb which he extended going down the other side.
He was caught by the others and while Martin would lose his place, the remainder of the escape would survive as the peloton split to pieces in the chase behind.
And as Gallopin attacked from the leaders in pursuit of the stage win with 4km remaining and the final cat 3 ascent to climb.
As he was pulling clear, Dan Martin was attacking what remained of the select group – including Chris Froome of Team Sky and yellow jersey Tejay van Garderen (BMC) – in a bid to gain time on the others in the hunt for a strong general classification ride.
And while the leaders still holding a lead of over two minutes, they stage win was always going to be settled among the men up front, with Nibali best placed of those in the fight for yellow.
He allowed Gallopin build a modest lead before attacking Rui Costa and Valverde.
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The Italian caught Gallopin and passed him immediately, apparently set for the stage win just over 1km up the road.
But Rui Costa closed him down and easily beat him in the charge to the line to claim victory.
Nibali was just 5 seconds back, with Valverde in 3rd a further 33 second adrift and Gallopin 4th just one second back.
Then came the ever impressive Simon Yates of Orica GreenEdge; the young Briton having attacked the group Dan Martin was in just before him and closed to within 45 seconds of Gallopin.
Martin was next on the road, 6th home and some 23 seconds down. That sees him place 10th overall, 1:30 down on new leader Nibali ahead of a massive weekend of climbing.
Stage 6: Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur to Villard-de-Lans (183km)
1 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida 4:29:23
2 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:05
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:38
4 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:00:39
5 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge 0:01:24
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:46
7 John Gadret (Fra) Movistar Team 0:01:48
8 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:59
9 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:02:12
10 Benat Intxausti (Spa) Movistar Team
42 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:11:01
121 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:36:25
General Classification
1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 22:34:17
2 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida 0:00:29
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:30
4 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge 0:00:35
5 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:42
6 Benat Intxausti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:57
7 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:21
8 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:01:29
9 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:30
10 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
11 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:02:07
12 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Lampre-Merida 0:02:42
13 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:02:45
14 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:05
15 David De La Cruz (Spa) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:03:13
44 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:33:32
48 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:36:18
