Dan Martin slipped two places from ninth to 11th overall in the Tour de France on Friday, finishing 33rd in the individual time trial at Pau.
Martin had identified the stage as one where he would lose time to some of the general classification contenders, and so it proved. Riders like stage winner Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and the Tour's defending champion Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) gained time on him, as did others like Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team).
However he said he was satisfied with his performance afterwards, saying that rode well technically and had encouraging sensations with the big mountains on the horizon. He ended the day four minutes 15 seconds behind Alaphilippe, and is just over two minutes off the third place of Steven Kruijswijk (Team Jumbo-Visma).
Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) deliberately held back to save energy for another attempt to win a stage in the coming days, but remained 27th overall.
Martin said he was motivated by what is next in the Tour, namely the start of the high altitude stages and a very tough final week in the race.
“It is fun riding in the mountains. We had a long wait for the high mountains, and now they begin,” he told the Irish Times. “There is nothing better than the atmosphere on the mountain stages, especially in the Pyrenees with all the Spanish and Basque fans. It is going to be a great day on Saturday. . .beautiful weather and a real typical Tour de France stage.”
Tour de France
Stage 13, Pau time trial: 1, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) 27.2 kilometres in 35 mins; 2, G. Thomas (Team Ineos) at 14 secs; 3, T. De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) at 36 secs; 4, R. Uran (EF Education First) same time; 5, R. Porte (Trek-Segafredo) at 45 secs; 6, S. Kruijswijk (Team Jumbo-Visma) same time
Irish: 33, D. Martin (UAE Team Emirates) at 2 mins 6 secs; 115, N. Roche (Team Sunweb) at 4 mins 35 secs
Young riders: 1, Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) 35 mins 52 secs; 2, E. Mas (Deceuninck-QuickStep) at 6 secs; 3, N. Politt (Katusha-Alpecin 33 secs
Teams: 1, Deceuninck-QuickStep, 1 hours 46 mins 50 secs; 2, Movistar Team, at 2 mins 9 secs; 3, Trek-Segafredo, at 2 mins 19 secs
Other: 8, Team Sunweb, at 3 mins 50 secs; 15, UAE Team Emirates, at 5 mins 58 secs
General classification after stage 13: 1, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) 53 hours 1 min 9 secs; 2, G. Thomas (Team Ineos) at 1 min 26 secs; 3, S. Kruijswijk (Team Jumbo-Visma) at 2 mins 12 secs; 4, E. Mas (Deceuninck-QuickStep) at 2 mins 44 secs; 5, E. Bernal (Team Ineos) at 2 mins 52 secs; 6, E. Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 3 mins 4 secs
Irish: 11, D. Martin (UAE Team Emirates) at 4 mins 15 secs; 27, N. Roche (Team Sunweb) at 14 mins 25 secs
Points classification: 1, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 277 pts; 2, S. Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) 191; 3, E. Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) 184
Mountains classification: 1, Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) 54 pts; 2, T. De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) 37; 3, G. Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) 30
Young riders classification: 1, Enric Mas (Deceuninck-QuickStep, 53 hours 3 mins 53 secs; 2, E. Bernal (Team Ineos) at 8 secs; 3, D. Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) at 5 mins 50 secs
Teams classification: 1, Trek-Segafredo, 159 hours 16 mins 27 secs; 2, Movistar Team, at 10 mins 12 secs; 3, AG2R La Mondiale, at 13 mins 56 secs
Other: 6, UAE Team Emirates, at 33 mins 49 secs; 11, Team Sunweb, at 47 mins 56 secs
