Dan Martin put in a solid time trial on stage 18 of the Tour de France on Thursday but still slipped back a place in the overall classification. He finished 18th in the hilly 17 kilometre race to Megève, one minute 28 seconds behind the winner Chris Froome (Sky).

He had started the day ninth but ended up tenth, being displaced by South African Louis Meintjes (Lampre-Merida). Martin is however just three seconds behind Meintjes and will look to overtake him and, if possible, others in the two remaining mountain stages.

“I had the best equipment possible and I’m grateful for that, this was very important today,” said Martin. “I did my best, although it wasn’t easy. I suffered for around two kilometres after the steepest part of the route and lost some time there.

“We are 18 days into the Tour de France, we have 3,000 kilometers in the legs, some very fast flat kilometers with crazy winds and a lot of altitude gain, so it’s normal to feel tired.”