Dan Martin (Quick Step Floors) has achieved his best overall result at the Tour de France, finishing in sixth place, 4’42” behind overall winner Chris Froome (Team Sky) and just 2’22” off a podium place.
The result marks a big improvement for the Irish rider whose previous best finish at La Grand Boucle was 9th place last year when he was over seven minutes behind Froome who also won in 2016. It also marked the best overall result for an Irish rider since Stephen Roche triumphed in 1987.
It has been a challenging three weeks for Martin which most notably saw him survive a high-speed crash on stage nine from Nantua to Chambéry.
Martin crashed on the final descent of the day when Richie Porte (BMC) lost control of the bike on a corner and crashed hard, taking Martin with him.
The Irishman had to wait for a new wheel and once he received it from the neutral service he started chasing the yellow jersey group, but another crash dented his hopes of making the catch and he lost over a minute to the other GC contenders.
Over the following days, Martin struggled with injuries sustained in the crash with footage after the thirteenth stage showing the extent of the pain he was riding through.
Despite this pain, he rode on and looked like he would be a contender for a podium spot. However, a top-three finish was not to be.
In addition to struggling with injuries during the race, Martin was also isolated without team-mates at various key points throughout the race. His Quick Step Floors team were also supporting Marcel Kittel’s efforts at winning stages and the green jersey, which resulted in Martin being left without support during the mountainous stages.
Martin also achieved eight top-ten stage placings over the course of the race and went near to stage wins on a couple of occasions.
On stage 3 to Longwy, he finished just behind Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) and Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb). Two days later, he finished 2nd behind Fabio Aru (Astana) on the stage to La Planche des Belles Filles.
Martin has had a very impressive 2017 season which has seen him finish in the top-six on GC at each of the stage races he has competed in and this latest result from the Tour de France augurs well for Martin to go on and improve and challenge for the top spot at future Grand Tours.
