Dan Martin closes Dauphinè in fourth overall

The strong Irish climber of team UAE Team Emirates closed fourth overall in the Critérium du Dauphiné, won today by Geraint Thomas (Sky).

In the last stage, the fourth summit finish in a row, young Edward Ravasi was in the escape with five others until the final 10 kilometres. On the climb to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc, Martin tried a few times to move free but had to remain satisfied with his win from two days ago.

“I felt good the entire stage,” Martin said, “but in the final, my legs didn’t respond how I thought they would. I’m still happy with the overall results in this race. I’m at a physical level I didn’t really expect.

I won a beautiful stage, I took fourth overall. The team, very young here, rode well at my side and was working strongly the entire week. They were incredible. We paid in the team time trial, but in the mountain stages, my teammates were always there, first in the escapes and then with support.

Now, I’m going to recover for a few days and then build towards the Tour de France.”

Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) won the final stage with a kick free in the last 50 metres. He finished ahead of escape rider Daniel Navarro (Cofidis). Martin placed sixth at 24 seconds.

In the final general classification, Geraint Thomas (Sky) took the trophy with one second over Yates, 1-47 over Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) and 2-35 over Martin.

Stage 7 results
1 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
2 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis 0:00:04
3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:09
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:24

Final general classification
1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 20:51:19
2 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:00
3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:47
4 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:35
5 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:02:44