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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
MARTIN TAKES SUPERB FIFTH IN LIEGE-BASTOGNE-LIEGE
By Shane Stokes
23 Apr 2012,
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Dan Martin has followed up on his sixth place in Wednesday’s Flèche Wallonne with a bigger performance in an even tougher Classic, yesterday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The Garmin Barracuda rider finished ahead of some of the world’s best one day riders, including Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez, in taking fifth place.
The prestigious Monument was won in a solo move by the Kazahkstan rider Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana), who caught and passed Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) inside the final three kilometres.
Nibali had attacked on the descent of the Côte de La Roche aux Faucons and built what looked like a race-winning move, only to fade slightly towards the end.
Martin was strong in the finale and after Igliskiy and Flèche Wallonne winner Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) attacked in pursuit of Nibali, the Irishman and Frenchman Pierre Roland (Europcar), the Alpe d’Huez winner in the 2011 Tour de France, went after them.
However Martin’s chances of closing up on those ahead where dampened by Roland’s reluctance to come through. He had been in an earlier break and was feeling the pinch.
Martin and he were caught inside the final four kilometres. However the Irishman still had enough in the tank to sprint in towards the front of the twelve man chase group sprinting for third. He crossed the line just behind last Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race winner Enrico Gasparotto (Astana) and Thomas Voecker (Europcar), taking that fifth place slot.
They were 36 seconds behind Iglinskiy and 15 off Nibali.
Martin’s performance is the best Irish ride in Liège-Bastogne-Liège since the days of Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly. The former was second in 1987, while Kelly won the race in 1984 and 1989.
The result is further confirmation of Martin's ability. He won a stage of the Vuelta a Espana last year and was second in the Giro di Lombardia Classic.
His first cousin Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) had a quiet race, most likely due to feeling the effects of a very tough Giro del Trentino, which finished on Friday. He was over twelve minutes back in 105th.
Meanwhile compatriot Sean Bennett had a strong performance in yesterday’s 1.2-ranked Profronde Van Noord-holland. He finished third, while his Lithuanian An Post Grant Thornton team-mate and 2011 An Post Rás winner Gediminas Bagdonas won in a solo move. Another An Post rider, Niko Eeckhout, was fifth.
It was a superb showing by the Irish-sponsored team and underlines the continuous growth in level it is experiencing. The result is an encouraging one for Bennett, who lost much of the early season due to illness.
In Turkey, Philip Deignan was classed as finishing in the same time as stage victor Theo Bos on yesterday’s opening leg of the Presidential Tour of Turkey. The peloton was actually fragmented into small parts by a big crash close to the finish, some riders going down and others being delayed, but as the incident happened inside the final three kilometres, the riders held up were all given the same time. United HealthCare rider Deignan was 90th across the line.
Bos beat Matt Goss (GreenEdge) and Daniele Colli (Team Type 1 – Sanofi) into Alanya. The former world track sprint champion holds the leader’s jersey heading into today’s 153 km stage from Alanya to Antalya.
Liege Bastogne Liege, Belgium (WorldTour):
1, Maxim Iglinsky (Astana Pro Team) 257.5 kilometres in 6 hours 43 mins 52 secs
2, Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 21 secs
3, Enrico Gasparotto (Astana Pro Team) at 36 secs
4, Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar)
5, Daniel Martin (Garmin – Barracuda)
6, Bauke Mollema (Rabobank Cycling Team)
Other Irish:
105, Nicolas Roche (Ag2r la Mondiale) at 12 mins 18 secs
Profonde van Noord Holland, Zaandam (2.2)
1, Gediminas Bagdonas (An Post Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 204.9km in 4 hours 56 mins
2, Jeff Vermuelen (Metec Continental) at 39 secs
3, Sam Bennett (An Post Grant Thornton Sean Kelly)
4, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Team MTN Qhubeka)
5, Niko Eeckhout (An Post Grant Thornton Sean Kelly)
6, Bart Van Haaren (Koga Cycling Team) all same time
Presidential Tour of Turkey (2.HC)
Stage one, Alanya to Alanya:
1, Theo Bos (Rabobank Cycling Team) 135 kilometres in 3 hours 5 mins 55 se
2, Matthew Harley Goss (Greenedge Cycling Team)
3, Daniele Colli (Team Type 1 – Sanofi)
4, Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre – ISD)
5, Boy Van Poppel (Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team)
6, Francesco Chicchi (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) all same time
Irish:
90, Philip Deignan (Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team) same time
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