The queen stage of the Tour of Catalunya proved to be a dramatic affair, as the leader of the tour, Alejandro Valverde, crashed out 119 km into the race, alongside his teammate, Eros Capecchi. Ultimately, it was going to end up being Dan Martin's day. Having struggled the day before, losing time on the GC contenders, Martin was determined to get into a break and successfully did so. A group of 23 riders got away, including Martin's teammate, Ryder Hesjedal, who was able to offer support and set a pace until he dropped back.
Dan Martin's form has sometimes been a bit up and down, and he is obviously relishing the chance to demonstrate just how strong he is on the climbs. Eventually, the group thinned out, with Nicolas Roche going off the front, before later being caught by Betancur, Santaromita, Martin, Losada, Herrada and Kiserlovski. The peloton was being driven by Team Sky, with Katusha initially contributing nothing to the pace-setting to bring back the breakaway group.
Martin was really pushing the pace and he was left with Herrada as his sole companion, though he wasn't prepared to contribute to the effort, knowing that this stage would be ideal for his teammate, Quintana, and could put him in the leader's jersey. The pace was too high for Herrada, though, and he dropped back. Meanwhile, Gesink and Van den Broeck attacked, as Katusha took up the pace-setting at the front, as Wiggins' sole surviving domestique, Uran, dropped back. Quintana attacked, followed by Rodriquez, and though they overtook Gesink and Van den Broeck, they were unable to catch Martin.
Dan Martin crossed the line first, followed by Rodriguez, Quintana, Van den Broeck and Gesink. Wiggins came in over a minute behind the winner alongside Stetina, Scarponi and Danielson. Martin is now leading the GC by 10 seconds. In second is Rodriguez, followed by Quintana at 32 seconds behind the leader and Wiggins at 36 seconds behind. The question now is will Martin be able to hold on to the leader's jersey?
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