Dan Martin (Etixx-Quick Step) limited his losses today on what had been identified as a particularly dangerous day on the Tour de France and the 29 year-old Irishman thanked his team mates afterwards.
Martin finished in the peloton, just six seconds behind stage winner Peter Sagan and maintained his third place overall.
Today’s eleventh stage from Carcassonne to Montpellier had a flat parcours, suited to the sprinters. However, the roadbook didn’t show the tramontane, the strong and dry wind which was set to play with the riders, disturb the quiet rhythm of the race and wreak havoc during the 162 kilometres of the stage.
Minutes after the start, Leigh Howard (IAM Cycling) and Arthur Vichot (FDJ) attacked and went clear, but the 4-minute lead they enjoyed was of no help when they hit a crosswinds section, with the peloton going full gas in an attempt to see if some riders could be caught off-guard in the echelons.
The bunch was immediately split to pieces, with many men being left behind, while others were involved in crashes and lost time. After the two escapees were reabsorbed, things calmed down, only to explode again in the last 15 kilometres of the stage.
In another crosswinds section, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) pushed hard and got a small gap, before being joined by teammate Maciej Bodnar and Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome, the race’s yellow jersey.
The strong group rode a frantic pace and opened a 20-second lead, which began to decrease in the final three kilometres thanks to the combined effort of Etixx – Quick-Step, LottoNL-Jumbo and Lotto-Soudal. In the end, the pack missed out on making the catch by just six seconds, as Sagan took the win, after beating Froome and Bodnar.
For Etixx – Quick-Step, it was a day in which the team had two goals: to help and lead Marcel Kittel if it came down to a massive sprint and to protect Daniel Martin.
Unfortunately, the crazy nature of this eventful stage meant a bunch gallop wasn’t on the cards anymore, but the team still had reasons to smile after the stage, as the Irishman finished with the elite group and kept his third place in the overall standings, just half a minute adrift.
“The guys did a fantastic job to keep me at the front and I came through this extremely tough stage. We showed again that we have a very strong team. With 15 kilometres to go, things became totally crazy, but Tony saved me at that point and rode five kilometres in the wind for me. I lost some time on Froome, but so did everybody else, and to be quite frankly it’s a small gap, not the end of the world”, said Dan Martin, before talking of tomorrow stage, which will not go all the way to the top of Mont Ventoux, but instead will be six kilometres shorter, because of the strong winds.
“Actually, the hardest part of Mont Ventoux comes before Chalet-Reynard, where the stage will now conclude, so I still expect a tough stage. It’s a pity that we will not get to climb to the top of this iconic ascent, as we all dream about it, but this is how things are.”
