Daniel Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) had trained at altitude in Andorra and refused to end his season after separating his shoulder on stage 8 of the Vuelta a Espana in the hopes of again doing well in Il Lombardia. However his lack of racing in the last five weeks, this year’s tougher race route and Astana’s aggression put an end to his hopes for a second consecutive victory.
The aggressive Irishman won with a late surge in Bergamo 12 months ago and wanted to end his time at Cannondale-Garmin as best as possible before looking forward to a new chapter in his career with Etixx-QuickStep. He had tried to be upbeat and optimistic before the start but Vincenzo Nibali’s solo attack and eventual solo victory confirmed the difficulty of this year’s Il Lombardia.
Martin was unable to make the key selection that formed over the top of the Muro di Sormano with 50km to go. Riders of the calibre of Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) and Frank Schleck (Trek Factory Racing) were also unable to make the 25-rider selection that powered clear under the impetus of the Astana team and an audacious attack by Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal).
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Martin could easily have climbed off and headed to the team bus early but instead completed the final climb of San Fermo della Battaglia overlooking Como and crossed the line in 52nd place, 9:36 down on Nibali.
“I had to finish today for the Cannondale-Garmin team,” Martin told Cyclingnews after taking a final post-race drink from the team’s soigneur.
“Even after what happened in the last few weeks with my shoulder problem, they believed in me and supported me. The guys did a great job for me in the race but I Iacked that little bit on the Sormano climb.
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