Ireland’s Dan Martin, of the UAE team, capped a daring, late attack on the steep Mur de Bretagne climb to snatch victory on the sixth stage of the Tour de France on Thursday.
Overnight leader Greg van Avermaet (BMC) finished just behind in the main peloton to retain the yellow jersey ahead of Friday’s seventh stage.
Van Avermaet leads Britain’s Geraint Thomas (Sky) by three seconds in the overall standings, with American Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and France’s Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step) at five and six seconds respectively.
In a frantic finale that saw Martin break free of the pack 1km from the finish line to finish ahead of AG2R’s Pierre Latour, defending champion Chris Froome of Team Sky lost eight seconds to his key rivals.
But Froome was not alone.
AG2R’s Romain Bardet cracked in the heat of the final ascent and lost 31secs, while fellow contender Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), the 2017 Giro d’Italia champion, lost nearly a minute after suffering a mechanical problem.
A group of five riders broke free early on the 181km run from Brest to Mur-de-Bretagne and when the Quick Step team of stage contender Julian Alaphilippe suddenly accelerated on a plain, the peloton split into three with 100km remaining.
Nairo Quintana, already 2 minutes 10 seconds down, and former Sky man Mikel Landa, were caught in the second of three groups and had to work long and hard to get back in the lead pack.
Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang, also caught in the split, failed to close the gap back to the lead group. He dropped to 10th overall at 53secs in arrears.
But it was on the final climb that the action took flight. England’s Adam Yates and the Mitchelton Scott team were shaping up for an attack, only for BMC’s Richie Porte to beat them to it.
As the Australian started to put his foot down, Martin flew past everyone and swiftly opened up a gap with a full 500m to climb.
The 31-year-old held on with a fast-closing Latour on his tail to claim the win and avenge his defeat on the Mur de Bretagne three years ago when the Irishman was denied by AG2R’s Alexis Vuillermoz.
Overall standings after the 6th stage of the Tour de France, a 181km ride from Brest to Mur-de-Bretagne on Thursday (TOP TEN ONLY):
1. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/BMC) 22hrs 35min 46sec
2. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) at 3.
3. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 5.
4. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/QST) 6.
5. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/QST) 12.
6. Bob Jungels (LUX/QST) 18.
7. Rigoberto Uran (COL/EFD) 45.
8. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 51.
9. Rafal Majka (POL/BOR) 52.
10. Jakob Fuglsang (DEN/AST) 53.
– Agence France-Presse
