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The Team UAE Emirates rider jumped away from the main pack
inside the final kilometre and never looked back, beating France’s Pierre
Latour by one second and Spain’s Alejandro Valverde by three.
Belgian Greg van Avermaet hung on for dear life on the 2-km climb
at an average gradient of 6.9% to retain the overall leader’s yellow jersey.
While Australian Richie Porte, Italian Vincenzo Nibali and
Britain’s Geraint Thomas all crossed the line three seconds off the pace
after the 181-km ride from Brest, defending champion Chris Froome was five
seconds further back.
Last year’s runner-up Rigoberto Uran was 11 seconds behind
Martin but it was worse for Frenchman Romain Bardet, who ended 31 seconds off
the pace after having to swap bikes with a team mate following a mechanical
problem just before the last climb.
Bardet now trails Froome by 43 seconds while Team Sky will also
be able to play the Geraint Thomas card as the Welshman, who won the
Criterium du Dauphine last month, sits in third place overall 59 seconds ahead
of the four-times Tour champion. Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, the 2017 Giro
d’Italia champion, suffered a puncture with five kilometres to go and ended
the day 53 seconds behind the winner.
He was then handed a 20-second penalty by the race jury for
staying too long in his team car’s slipstream.
Martin came home second the last time a Tour stage ended in Mur
de Bretagne and he admitted he had been obsessed about winning here this time
on a punchy climb that suited his abilities.
Thousands of French fans had been waiting for France’s Julian
Alaphilippe to win and snatch the yellow jersey but the Fleche Wallonne
champion failed to deliver, coming home a disappointing fourth.
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Source: NDO
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