Martin, who already had two third-place finishes this week, was taking his first La Veulta stage win since 2011.

Thursday’s 166km stage from Lodosa to Vinuesa featured two categorised climbs, which ultimately decided the outcome of the stage.

The Irishman accelerated inside the last 200m of the stage, out-sprinting Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers). The summit finish win was Martin’s first stage win since the 2018 Tour de France.

Dan Martin claims his second stage win on the roads of La Vuelta, 9 years after his victory in Sierra de Béjar-La Covatilla.

“I’ve come so close to winning this year. I just really wanted to win a stage for this team because they’ve been so good to me,” the emotional Irishman said.

“Obviously with the (back) injury at the Tour (de France), I couldn’t win a stage. I was really determined to win today. The team were amazing, and every single one of them played their part in the victory.

“This win is partly for them and then partly for my wife, because this is the first time I’ve won a race since my kids were born and it’s really special.”

Stage three result

1. Daniel Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation)
2. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma)
3. Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers)

General classification after stage three
1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 12hrs 37mins 24secs
2. Daniel Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) +5secs
3. Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers +13secs

The post Dan Martin wins stage 3 of La Vuelta 2020 appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

The Carrick-On-Suir man, who won his first Tour de France stage yesterday, was bidding to become the first Irish cyclist to win consecutive stages in the world’s most famous cycle race, and was hoping to emulate his fellow ‘Carrick’ man, Seán Kelly, who the first of his five Tour de France stages in Poitiers in 1978.

Wednesday’s 167.5 kilometres stage from Châtelaillon-Plage went to Australian Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), who was taking his second stage in this year’s event, with Peter Sagan second across the line and Bennett third.

When officials reviewed the race finish, Sagan was deemed to have shoved Jumbo-Visma sprinter Wout van Aert in the closing metres and was relegated to 85^th place, last in the finishing bunch sprint.

This meant Bennett was promoted to second, earning him more green jersey points, to add to the points he claimed earlier in the day when taking second behind breakaway leader Matthieu Ladagnous at the intermediate sprint.

“I don’t really know what happened it was so hectic,” admitted Bennett. “It (the final sprint) was hard to make the switch from following my teammate to going alone. I found myself too far forward too early and then I was trying to drift back and it was a bit late to drift back. Then they came at speed – it was just a complete mess. I just tried to limit my losses and get the best result I could.”

The Irish rider is now on 234 points, 68 points ahead of seven-time points’ classification winner Sagan on 175, with Frenchman Bryan Coquard third on 157.

Race leader Primoz Roglic from Slovenia maintains his lead over the defending Tour champion Egan Bernal.

Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche finished in 133rd and 138^th respectively on today’s stage, with Martin maintaining his position as the leading Irish rider in this year’s race. The Israel Start-Up Nation rider is 64^th on the general classification, with Roche 75^th and Tuesday’s stage winner Bennett 139^th, almost two-and-a-half hours behind the yellow jersey wearer.

Stage 11 result

1. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) 4hrs 00mins 01secs
2. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) same time.
3. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) same time.

General classification after stage 11

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 46hrs 15mins 24secs.
2. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) + 21secs.
3. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) + 28secs.

The post Caleb Ewan wins stage 11 as Sam Bennett increases green jersey lead appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Bennett, who became the first Irish cyclist to wear the green jersey since Seán Kelly, gained six points on the day’s intermediate sprint to increase his lead over his current main rival for the jersey, Sagan. With Bennett set to spend a second day in green on Friday, he will match the feat of his fellow Irishman, Stephen Roche, in 1987.

“Wearing this jersey today was amazing, a lovely experience”, Bennett proudly admitted. “People applauded me, I heard my name as the stage progressed, and to see the support I got was just beautiful. Coming into the Tour it wasn’t a goal, but it would be a huge honour to win it. I know it’s still a long way to Paris and a lot of work has to be put in to conquer this jersey, but I will take it day by day and see what happens”, the Waterford rider said of his first day’s experience of wearing the green jersey.

The day’s eight-man breakaway included Team Sunweb’s Nicolas Roche, who won two King of the Mountain points before a difficult finish, which saw the group splinter on the day’s principal climb, the Col de la Lusette, late in the 191km stage from Le Teil.

Roche, who won the stage’s combativity award as the day’s most aggressive rider, is now third overall in the polka-dot rankings, on 11 points, behind leader Benoit Cosnefroy on 23 points and Michael Gogl on 12.

Adam Yates, who yesterday became the ninth Briton to wear the Tour de France’s yellow jersey, retained the race leadership following today’s stage.

Nicolas Roche finished 56th in the stage, seven minutes and seven seconds down on the stage victor Lutsenko and now finds himself in 44th place overall, 11 minutes and 59 seconds behind Yates.

Israel Start-Up Nation’s Dan Martin was 71^st today and now finds himself in 76th position in the general classification, almost 40 minutes behind the race leader.

The post Bennett still in green as Roche wins stage 6 combativity award appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Bennett’s teammate Julian Alaphillipe claimed yesterday’s first mountain stage of the Tour and took the yellow jersey in the process. According to Carrick-On-Suir cyclist Bennett this has taken some of the pressure off.

“I think for the team as whole it takes the pressure off,” he admits, before reaffirming “but I still have a lot of pressure on myself (to win a stage).”

Now that his French team leader wears the yellow jersey, tactics may change for the Deceuninck – Quick Step team.

“I think it just means that we sit back a little more, let the other teams control it more for the sprints as we have a stage now” says Bennett. “We can’t work for the yellow and go for the sprint stages so the other teams are going to have to pull their weight a bit” the Flanders-born Irish rider explains.

Dan Martin of Israel Start-Up Nation, a team that debuts in this year’s race, is targeting a stage victory in 2020 rather than the General Classification, though he has finished top-10 three times in the Grand Boucle in his career.

The opening two stages, according to Martin, have “gone to plan so far (despite the Irishman losing a lot of time on Sunday). We wanted to stay safe and ride into the race. Our ambitions were realistic coming into the race considering the severity of my injury just two and a half weeks ago and the missed training before the start.”

Having crashed in recent weeks in the Critérium de Dauphiné, his preparation race for the Tour, Martin is delighted to just be in the race. He admits to feeling better than he expected and hopes to improve over the course of the three-week Tour:

“I’m actually feeling better than I expected so looking ahead to stage opportunities further into the Tour” says Dan Martin, “It’s a strange approach to the race after so many years riding for GC (General Classification) but I’m enjoying it and hopefully my condition and the injury improves enough to really be aggressive in the second and third weeks.”

Sports News Ireland will have stage reports each evening during the 2020 Tour de France.

The post Sam Bennett & Dan Martin on opening weekend of Le Tour appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Alaphilippe, who was involved in one of the many crashes on the opening stage of the race on Saturday, launched a perfectly-timed attack on the final climb of the day, the Col des Quatre Chemins, before outsprinting former World U-23 champion Marc Hirschi of Nicolas Roche’s TeamSunweb and Adam Yates of Mitchelton-Scott.

Sunday’s stage, which brought the riders into the high Alps with ascents of both La Colmiane and the Col de Turini, saw Philippe Gilbert (Lotto-Soudal) and Rafael Valls (Bahrain-McLaren) fail to start due to a fractured kneecap and femur respectively, it really is like playing on Gclub with the fun and excitement.

In an eventful day on the 107^th Tour de France, Alaphilippe attacked with 13km to go. Hirschi (Team Sunweb), the eventual stage runner-up, went across to him while Tom Dumoulin of Jumbo-Visma) crashed after touching the back wheel of Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos).

Britain Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) counter-attacked and rejoined Alaphilippe and Hirschi at the front. Yates took the 8 seconds bonus at the top, before Alaphilippe and Hirschi, with an advantage of 20 seconds over the peloton. They kept the same gap until the final kilometre before Alaphilippe outsprinted Hirschi, with Yates crossing the finishing line in third place.

A tearful Alaphilippe, whose father Jo died in June, dedicated the victory to him.

“It’s always a special emotion to win on the Tour” he said, “but this is a special year. I haven’t won a race since the beginning of the season, although I’ve always continued to work hard despite the difficult moments. I just wanted to dedicate this victory to my dad. It meant a lot to me and I’m happy I did it.”

A chasing pack of 32 riders came in just two seconds behind Alaphilippe, with Greg Van Avermaet (CCC) taking fourth place ahead of Sergio Higuita (EF Pro Cycling) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo).

Despite crashing on the final ascent after touching wheels with Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos), General Classification contender Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) came home in that group among the principal overall contenders, though Critérium du Dauphiné winner Dani Martínez (EF Pro Cycling) came home 3:38 down following his crash.

Stage 1 winner and yellow jersey wearer today Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) struggled and came home over half an hour behind the stage victor.

Nicolas Roche was the first of the three Irishmen home today, as the Nice-based rider finished in 24th, 17 seconds behind Alaphilippe. Dan Martin was 17 minutes 45 seconds behind in 100th while Sam Bennett, who was fourth on Saturday’s opening stage, finished 168^th, 28 minutes 55 seconds behind his stage-winning teammate.

In the overall standings, Alaphilippe holds a lead of 4 seconds over Yates with Hirschi of Switzerland a further 3 seconds back in third, while Higuita and the other GC contenders are 17 seconds behind the Frenchman.

Nicolas Roche is 26^th overall, 17^th seconds off the yellow jersey, Dan Martin is 101^st at 18 minutes down, while Sam Bennett is 149^th, 29 minutes and 10 seconds behind the race leader.

The post Alaphilippe wins stage 2 and takes yellow, Roche is leading Irishman appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Martin, who won stages in the 2013 and 2018 Tours respectively was strong on his return to racing after the Covid-19 shutdown but suffered a sacral fracture in the second stage of the recent Critérium du Dauphiné.

“It’s a relief to be here” admits the Irish rider who will start his 8^th Tour de France this weekend, “but also excitement as well” he continues, “as starting the Tour de France is always very special. The circumstances this year make it even more so.”

Rest, treatment and therapy have been effective, and he says, “I feel I am ready. I feel I can do something here in the Tour (but) expect to suffer through the first stages as I have missed a bit of training.”

Reflecting back on the Dauphiné crash on August 13, Martin concedes:

“It was quite a severe injury I had. I still have a fracture. Obviously it’s far from ideal and fortunately I’m here on the start line and that’s the most important thing.”

With his injury occurring only a few weeks before the Grand Départ in Nice, the Tour de France’s 2018 combativity award winner dispels any doubts about his health, physically or mentally, heading into three difficult weeks of racing:

“I would not be here if I wasn’t completely healthy and able to race because I would never take the opportunity to start the Tour de France away from one of my team mates if I wasn’t back to pretty much full health.”

Heading into this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné, a traditional prep-race for many of the Tour de France’s main participants, Martin admits to having being in good shape:

“Going into Dauphiné I was feeling in incredible condition – you don’t just lose that. It’s only been two weeks since I crashed and you don’t lose too much condition in that time.”

Though he concedes he would be happier starting Saturday’s race if he had more work done, he looks at the positive of having had an injury-enforced rest, saying:

“It would have been nice to have done a little more work but hopefully that extra little bit of rest will pay off in the third week because this is one of the most incredibly difficult Grand Tours I’ve ever seen, if not the hardest. I think it’s going to be a very challenging third week. Physically I’m ready, and mentally even more so.”

Dan Martin will lead his team in the many mountainous stages while German 11-time stage winner André Greipel will contest the sprints in his tenth consecutive Tour.

Israel Start-Up Nation’s Team Manager Kjell Carlström clearly states the squad’s aim is to win a stage at its maiden Tour:

“We have put together the team that we believe is best to execute our strategy. We are hunting for stage wins and as the route is demanding, we have ensured that we have all possibilities covered. All the teams, of course, are out for success, but we’re focused on our goal to win a stage.”

With Martin not having to concern himself with the General Classification as a result, there will be less pressure on the Irishman entering this year’s delayed Grand Boucle, something that sits easily with the former UAE Team Emirates rider:

“It’s very nice going in with no pressure on for the General Classification and I’m sure we’ll let the race unfold.”

“The main aim for the team is a stage victory”, Martin stresses, “Obviously riding the General Classification limits your opportunities as a rider to contest for stages. With the mentality of going for stage victories, the General Classification is really tricky. For us to realise our ambition for the team to get a stage victory, it’s sensible.”

With stage victories in mind, the game plan is as follows, Martin explains:

“As a team we’ll go forward and look at every stage. We can really pack every day as a new day (since we’re not contesting the GC) and try and find a tactic that we can influence to get the best result.”

With three top-ten finishes in the General Classification to his name, his experience of professional cycling tells him that despite the team plan, their priorities may change in the latter stages of the Tour:

“Obviously you never know what is going to happen. If we get to the third week and I’m there or thereabouts, we will look at it.”

Along with Martin, Greipel and Niv, the team’s strong line-up also includes Classics specialist Nils Politt, French rider Hugo Hofstetter, Krists Neilands, Ben Hermans and Tom Van Asbroeck, an outfit Martin believes “can adapt to the specifics of each day, can come together as a team to support the best rider – the rider who is best suited to the stage that we have.”

Dan Martin will be one of three Irish riders in Le Tour this year, with his first cousin Nicolas Roche, who will ride with Team Sunweb, and Sam Bennett of Deceuninck – Quick Step also starting in Nice on Saturday.

The post Dan Martin is “physically ready, and mentally even more so” for Le Tour appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.