IRELAND’S DAN MARTIN claimed another second-place finish with a brilliant ride in Wednesday’s 11th stage at the Tour de France.
Martin powered up the final climb of the day to finish a minute behind the impressive stage winner Rafal Majka.
Britain’s Chris Froome retains the race leader’s yellow jersey with a 2:52 advantage over second-placed Tejay van Garderen.
For Martin, it was another excellent performance to add to his second- and fourth-place finishes in the Tour’s opening week.
He moves up to 16th in the general classification, though he is still almost 17 minutes behind Froome.
Martin collected the day’s combativity award after mounting a solo challenge to reel in the breakaway on the Col d’Aspin — closing a gap of almost four minutes.
He was then dropped as the leaders climbed the Col du Tourmalet but dug deep to overtake Belgium’s Serge Pauwels on the final climb, the Côte de Cauterets, and finish second.
Wednesday’s win was Majka’s third Tour stage after a pair of successes in 2014 as he won the polkadot jersey as King of the Mountains.
– Additional reporting by AFP
