Tour de France: Dan Martin moves up as he eyes Alps stages

Dan Martin moved up two places to 13th overall at the end of stage 16 of the Tour de France on Tuesday. The Irish UAE Team Emirates riders rolled in as part of a reduced-size main bunch, with the first 48 riders on the stage all finishing on the same time.

Martin improved in the general classification after Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) crashed out of his ninth place overall, and Roman Kreuziger (Team Dimension Data) lost time. He remains 11 minutes 39 seconds behind the ongoing race leader Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep). He lost time on the mountain stages on Saturday and Sunday and while not yet elaborating on the reasons for the drop in form, he has indicated that his team may have established the cause. He is hoping for a stronger performance in the upcoming Alpine stages.

Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) drifted back towards the end of the stage, saving energy for another attempt at the first Tour stage win of his career. Wednesday’s stage to Gap is one which could well favour a breakaway group, and a determined Roche will do what he can to chase victory. “Tomorrow is the best day of the next four days. But I’ll try all four,” he told the Irish Times.

Tour de France Stage 16, Nîmes to Nîmes

1, Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) 177 kilometres in 3 hours 57 mins 8 secs; 2, E. Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep); 3, D. Groenewegen (Team Jumbo-Visma); 4, P. Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe); 5, N. Bonifazio (Total Direct Energie); 6, M. Matthews (Team Sunweb) all same time

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Irish: 37, D. Martin (UAE Team Emirates) same time; 112, N. Roche (Team Sunweb) at 2 mins

Sprint 1 - Vallérargues Km. 65: 1, Lars Bak (Dimension Data) 20 pts; 2, S. Rossetto (Cofidis Solutions Credits) 17; 3, P. Ourselin (Total Direct Energie) 15

Mountain 1 (Cat. 4) Cote De Saint-Jean-Du-Pin, km. 96: 1, Lars Bak (Dimension Data) 1

Young riders: 1, Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) at 3 hours 57 mins 8 secs; 2, I. Garcia (Bahrain-Merida); 3, E. Bernal (Team Ineos) both same time

Combativity: 1, Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale)

Teams: 1, Deceuninck-QuickStep, 11 hours 51 mins 24 secs; 2, Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team; 3, Movistar Team, both same time

Other: 4, UAE Team Emirates; 18, Team Sunweb, at 1 min 26 secs

General classification after stage 16

1, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) 64 hours 57 mins 30 secs; 2, G. Thomas (Team Ineos) at 1 min 35 secs; 3, S. Kruijswijk (Team Jumbo-Visma) at 1 min 47 secs; 4, T. Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) at 1 min 50 secs; 5, E. Bernal (Team Ineos) at 2 mins 2 secs; 6, E. Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 2 mins 14 secs

Irish: 13, D. Martin (UAE Team Emirates) at 11 mins 39 secs; 36, N. Roche (Team Sunweb) at 59 mins 25 secs

Points classification: 1, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 309 pts; 2, E. Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) 224; 3, S. Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) 203

Mountains classification: 1, Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) 64 pts; 2, T. Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) 50; 3, T. De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) 37

Young riders classification: 1, Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) 64 hours 59 mins 32 secs

Teams classification: 1, Movistar Team, 195 hours 19 mins 44 secs; 2, Trek-Segafredo, at 30 mins 45 secs; 3, Team Ineos, at 30 mins 54 secs

Other: 10, UAE Team Emirates, at 1 hours 15 mins 38 secs; 13, Team Sunweb, at 2 hours 20 mins 55 secs