Tour de France: Ineos Grenadiers loses one of its GC leaders as Dani Martínez cracks on stage 9
Geraint Thomas, Adam Yates and Tom Pidcock remain in the top-10 ahead of second Tour de France rest day.
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Although the Tour de France delved deep into the Alps on stage 9 with an intermediate stage to Châtel les Portes du Soleil there were few major changes in the overall standings apart from one.
Dani Martínez, who started the stage 10th overall at 1:59, dropped well out of contention after being dropped on the penultimate climb of the Pas de Morgins.
Martínez was put under pressure by the pace set by George Bennett after Tour de France leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) put his team to work.
The Colombian rider at Ineos Grenadiers eventually crossed the line more than 16 minutes down on eventual stage winner Bob Jungels, and around 15 minutes behind the main group of GC contenders.
The result saw Martínez plummet to 30th overall, 17:12 down on the yellow jersey.
Martínez came into the race with slightly undercooked form after an inconsistent performance at the Tour de Suisse, where he finished eighth overall. The 26-year-old was given a leadership role for the Tour de France but has looked far from his best even before the losses on stage 9.
The result means that Ineos have two riders left with ambitions of finishing on the podium. Both Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates lost two seconds to Pogačar on the line but Thomas sits third overall at 1:17 and Yates at 1:25.
Tom Pidcock also remains in the top-10 as the Tour rookie lost a few seconds on the finale to retain seventh overall at 1:46 back.
Castroviejo upset of missing chance to win out breakaway
There was a slight consolation for the British team on stage 9 with Jonathan Castroviejo finishing second on the road after surviving from the break. The Spaniard is still searching for his maiden grand tour stage win after taking second in the Giro, Vuelta and now the Tour.
“I am a little mad, because there are not that many opportunities to get into a breakaway,” he said at the finish.
“It was a shame, Jungels attacked and he gained a lot of time real fast, and I had good legs to win today, and I am a bit angry about that.That was the plan to get into the break to try to win the stage. We know that Pogacar is very strong, we have three guys for the GC, so if we can get into the break and try to win a stage, but that’s not so easy either. I am happy with how I rode.
“The first week was a lot of work for me, riding in the wind to protect the leaders, but you feel that as well when you arrive to the mountain, but I felt pretty good today and with the heat,” he said. “We’ll keep trying with what lies ahead.”