Cycling:Daniel Martin held on to fourth spot after the fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya today after coming home in the bunched finish in 17th spot behind stage winner Samuel Dumoulin of France.
Nicolas Roche was seventh in today’s 213km run from El Vendrell to Tarragona, with the field coming home in 4 hours 49 minutes and 31 seconds. He remains in 40th spot in the overall standings. Philip Deignan moved up three spots to 65th in the GC after placing 89th today.
Spain’s Alberto Contador of Spain remains overall leader for a third successive day.
Cofidis rider Dumoulin also won a stage in the race last year after a climb through Barcelona’s Montjuic Park.
“I was lucky to win today because I only found out very late in the day that the finish would suit me so well,” he said.
“Someone on the staff who was at the finish realised I'd have a chance, and called through to the team director. He radioed it through to me and I quickly got myself to the front.”
Contador needed the help of his Saxo Bank team mates after a dangerous four-man break featuring challenger Francesco Masciarelli of Italy.
Less than two minutes behind on general classification, the Astana rider’s move opened up a gap of over five minutes in rugged terrain before Saxo Bank finally picked up the pace in the pack.
Thanks to Saxo Bank's brutal acceleration, the break was finally caught with five kilometres left to race.
With two days racing remaining, Contador stayed in control with a 23 second advantage over American Levi Leipheimer and Italy's Michele Scarponi, while Martin is 35 seconds back.