Setback as Martin loses time to top trio

Dan Martin has suffered a minor setback in the battle for General Classification in the Tour de France as he lost almost a minute and a half to three of the biggest contenders for yellow on a testing day in The Netherlands.

The Garmin Cannondale man was caught on the wrong side of a split on the 166km stage from Utrecht to Neeltje Jans and his group never managed to regain contact with the leading bunch which contained Chris Froome (Team Sky), Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) and Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing Team).

Martin now trails that trio by around two minutes heading into stage three today.

Today’s 159.5km leg from Antwerpen to Huy finishes on the hellishly steep Muur de Huy climb and it’s a section of road Martin knows well having come close to winning Fleche Wallone here three times.

Martin now lies 57th at 2:43 but with so many mountain stages to come, he wouldn’t see such a gap as a cause of alarm.

Fellow Irishman Sam Bennett came across the line in the same time as Martin yesterday.

Bennett, riding his first Tour, admits the experience is everything he dreamed it would be.

“Saturday was up there with one of my greatest ever moments in cycling; standing on the start ramp prior to the start of my time-trial in the Tour de France.“It’s something I dreamt of all my life and it was just the most surreal moment, seeing so many Irish flags.

“I did a pretty good time because I was so pumped with adrenaline but I knew I had to rein it in as I was never going to win the stage and I had to keep something in reserve for today.” he said

Nicolas Roche crossed the line 93rd at 4:29 but played his part in helped create the split, and allowing Froome to capitalise.

Roche drove a strong pace at a crucial moment, helped split the bunch and as far as he was concerned it was job done for the day.

German Andre Gripel (Lotto Soudal) won the stage from Peter Sagan (Tinkoff Saxo) with Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) rounding out the podium.

The latter, however, did have the consolation of being the news race leader, though he is expected to lose it today.