Dan Martin showed he is exactly where he needs to be as the Tour de France approaches, winning the fifth stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné on Friday. The Irishman attacked just under three kilometres from the summit finish of Valmorel, racing in four seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and 15 ahead of Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott).
“Yesterday I attacked but couldn’t win, today it worked,” he said. “I thought if I attacked, they’d let me go, I’m a little further back in the overall. I took the opportunity. Everyone seemed to be in the red after Adam Yates attacked,” said Martin. “This success brings fantastic feelings, after second yesterday and a period of adjustment with the new team, where we all are getting familiar with each other.”
Martin jumped up to 14th overall, and is now two minutes 26 seconds off the yellow jersey taken by Thomas. Martin’s UAE Team Emirates squad lost two minutes 28 seconds in Wednesday’s team time trial, putting a major dent in his general classification hopes.
“The team was perfect, even when the wins don’t arrive, we are always a united group and I received constant support. That makes it all the better to add a victory as payback for everyone’s work. I’m really surprised, my training went perfectly over the past few weeks. I didn’t expect to be in top form yet, but I’d rather be in this position than be in difficulty for the Tour de France.”
Positions UCI World Tour: Criterium du Dauphine, France
Leading Positions after Stage 5: Grenoble — Valmorel, 130.5km: 1 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 3hrs 21mins 19secs, 2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky at 04secs, 3 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott at 15secs, 4 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgroheat 16secs, 5 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits, 6 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at same time, 7 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team at 24secs, 8 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin at same time, 9 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert at 26secs, 10 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, 11 Pierre Rolland (Fra) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale, 12 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors, 13 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team at same time, 14 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 39secs, 15 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 42secs, 16 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida at 59secs, 17 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors at 01min 02secs, 18 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky at 01min 05secs, 19 Leo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at same time, 20 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at 01min 07secs
Selected Others: 51 James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors at 08mins 09secs, 104 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data at 15mins 27secs, 127 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky at 16mins 23secs, 132 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe at same time
General Classification after Stage 5: 1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 17hrs 16mins 53secs, 2 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team at 01min 09secs, 3 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky at same time, 4 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors at 01min 10secs, 5 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky at 01min 15secs, 6 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott at 01min 18secs, 7 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 01min 53secs, 8 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors at 02mins 03secs, 9 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team at 02mins 10secs, 10 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe at 02mins 23secs, 11 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin at 02mins 24secs, 12 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal, 13 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at same time, 14 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates at 02mins 26secs, 15 Pierre Rolland (Fra) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale at 02mins 30secs, 16 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at 03mins 14secs, 17 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo at 03mins 20secs, 18 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits at 03mins 22secs, 19 Leo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 03mins 37secs, 20 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida at 03mins 44secs
Selected Others: 21 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky at 03mins 51secs, 49 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe at 21mins 36secs, 66 James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors at 27mins 53secs, 107 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data at 44mins 09secs, 113 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky at 46mins 24secs
