Dan Martin retains 11th place on Tour de France after mountain stage

Irishman 14th on climb to Mont Ventoux and now targets another stage win


Dan Martin retained his 11th place overall in the Tour de France after the weekend, finishing in the main bunch on Saturday's stage dominated by a breakaway group, and then riding solidly on yesterday's gruelling climb of Mont Ventoux.

The Garmin-Sharp rider was part of a select group of favourites which slugged it out on the final climb, although he slipped back with nine kilometres to go. Martin plugged on to the finish at the summit, crossing the line 14th, two minutes and 36 seconds behind the solo winner Chris Froome (Sky).

His first cousin Nicolas Roche rode for Saxo Tinkoff team-mate Alberto Contador on the lower slopes, then rolled in 54th, 16 minutes and 39 seconds back.

Martin is one place outside the top ten, eight minutes 28 behind Froome and just thirty seconds off the tenth place of Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).

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If he keeps riding solidly, it looks likely that he will move back into the top ten.

However taking another stage win is a bigger priority for him, and he is concentrating on that.

Roche is 38th overall as the race pauses for its second rest day today.

Shane Stokes

Shane Stokes

Shane Stokes is a contributor to The Irish Times writing about cycling