Tuesday, 5 July 2016

Tour de France: Dan Martin expects breakaway in Massif Central

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Four stages into the 2016 Tour de France the peloton is offered a medium mountains stage on day five. For Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) it's time to step forward. The 29-year-old Irishman is amongst a stack of GC riders who haven't lost time so far, all tied in fourth place at 18 seconds from race leader Peter Sagan (Tinkoff).

So far this season Martin has been going very well. Early on in the season he won a stage in the Volta a la Communitat Valenciana and also in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. He was third in La Flèche Wallonne and most recently third overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Together with young teammate Julian Alaphilippe he'll be leading the Etixx-QuickStep team on Wednesday.

It was a delighted Martin who rolled towards the Etixx-QuickStep team bus after completing the fourth stage from Saumur to Limoges. Unsurprisingly, as the team's sprinter Marcel Kittel had just captured the team's first win in the Tour de France with a narrow victory over Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie). While being congratulated by director sportif Wilfried Peeters,Kittel said he couldn't believe his eyes.

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"With seven kilometres to go we were going really hard on the climb. He sailed back a little bit, possibly to save his legs. I hadn't seen him come back. It's a special victory. It's not an ideal Marcel-finish," Martin said while spinning down on the rollers next to the team bus.

More on this story:

On Wednesday the GC riders will find a first stage to battle each other in the Massif Central. There are six categorized climbs featured in the 216km stage, with five of them in the final 80km. Martin acknowledged that it seemed like a stage for the big guns but he expected a different scenario.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com



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