Dauphiné stage 5: Martin wins; Thomas becomes third Sky rider to wear yellow

With a blistering attack on the steep pitches of the finish climb, Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) won stage 5 at the Critérium du Dauphiné Friday, his first victory in more than a year.

Team Sky continued its romp through the eight-stage race with Geraint Thomas taking the yellow leader’s jersey off the back of his teammate Gianni Moscon. Thomas was second on the day, ahead of fellow Brit Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott).

“I’ve been feeling good all year, and it just hasn’t worked out,” said Martin. “It’s just fantastic that it worked out today.”

Martin made his winning move with about three kilometers remaining in the 130.5km race that finished at Valmorel, 1,341 meters above sea level.

He profited from an unsuccessful attack by Yates, which softened up the select group of stage contenders and GC favorites. Yates himself had followed an early move by Movistar’s Marc Soler. With the race back together, Martin sensed an opportunity.

“I figured if I attacked, they’d let me go because I was a little behind after the time trial,” Martin said. “I saw that everyone was a little in the red after Yates attacked, and I just tried.”

With about one kilometer remaining, Thomas launched an attack of his own to take time in the overall. Moscon had been dropped earlier on the climb, so it was up to Thomas to keep the yellow jersey with his Sky team. The British team’s riders have held the lead for all but one stage of the Dauphiné so far.

“It was tough, Orica [Mitchelton-Scott] set a hard tempo, and Yates, he attacked and it split the group up,” said Thomas. “Tao [Geoghegan Hart], he rode a really good tempo until about 1km to go, and then I just went and managed to be on my own.”

Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) put in an effort to follow Thomas, but he couldn’t stay on the wheel and faded to finish sixth.

Martin wasn’t concerned with gaining time on GC. Instead, the Irishman delighted in his first win after a long drought. As he ramps up to the Tour de France, Martin has a boost of confidence after stage 5.

“It’s just a learning process,” he said about how he has adapted to his new UAE team in 2018. “I’m just happy. I’ve finished second I don’t know how many times before at the Dauphiné, at the Tour. To win — it’s just very special.

“My training went perfect the last few weeks, but I didn’t expect to be in top, top condition. I prefer to be in this position than to be worrying about my form before the Tour.”

Saturday’s Dauphiné stage will remain in the mountains with a short 110km stage to La Rosière that includes four categorized climbs and a summit finish. Thomas has a healthy 1:09 advantage in the overall, despite a crash on Sunday that spoiled his effort in the prologue. However, he is wary of the weekend’s climbing stages.

“I think these four days are the hardest four days I’ve raced in a one-week stage race,” said Thomas. “They’re super-hard climbing stages and even harder over the weekend.

“I’ll try to enjoy it in the jersey tomorrow. It’s super-hard and anything can happen but so far so good.

“There’s a lot of climbing [on Saturday], it might be short but there are three big climbs and a little one as well so it will certainly be a big test.”