Martin pays price for early aggression

CYCLING: Dan Martin put in a very gutsy display on stage 11 of the Vuelta A Espana yesterday, finishing eighth on the stage, eight seconds behind stage winner Fabio Aru (Astana) and moving up to 11th overall.

The Garmin-SHARP man, who is now 3:59 down on race leader Alberto Contador, had stage honours in his sights on a brutally hard day from Pamplona to the summit finish at San Miguel de Aralar but in the end, paid for his aggression in the closing kilometres.

Race leader Contador reacted to Martin’s repeated accelerations to further whittle down the leading pack — which had 2013 Tour de France champion Chris Froome hanging on for dear life.