Dan Martin gives his all to grab third spot

Dan Martin claimed one of the best stage-race results of his career yesterday, taking third in Paris-Nice after a thrilling final day.

The Irishman, riding for QuickStep Floors, started the day 30 seconds down overall on race leader Sergio Henao (Team Sky) but attacked him repeatedly.

Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) started the day third overall and also went on the offensive before eventually breaking clear on the penultimate climb of the day.

With 50 kilometres remaining, the Spaniard managed to shake off both Martin and Henao and he would go on to catch all of the early breakaway riders in a bold and brilliant attack..

Contador was extremely aggressive and managed to gap Henao by one minute at one stage, but by the time the race descended from the top of the Col d’Eze some 15 kilometres into the finish in Nice his gap was down to 20 seconds.

And when early breakaway man Davide De La Cruz, Martin’s team mate, bested Contador in the sprint for stage victory it meant Contador neither won the stage or the overall - though coming within two seconds of it.

Henao hung on for overall victory but Contador managed to leapfrog Martin for second.

“I couldn’t follow Alberto when he attacked, so from that moment on it was a case of dropping Sergio which I did on Col d’Èze but the others chased me back immediately,” said Martin.

“When I realised the GC victory was out of the question, I said in the radio that David should go and seeing him win this stage is really great. I am extremely happy for him. He gave everything this week for us and deserves to be there.

“Third in the general classification at such a big race as Paris-Nice is an important result in my career, solid proof of how much I have developed since joining Quick-Step Floors, especially as I didn’t arrived here in the best condition.

“Finally, I am also satisfied and super glad to see the entire squad on the podium at the end of this race as this fantastic team spirit is what brought us at the top”, concluded the 30-year-old Irishman after they won the team prize.

Meanwhile, Conn McDunphy claimed the biggest win of his career to date with a brilliant performance at the Boyne GP yesterday.

The Lucan CRC man led home his teammate Mark Reilly at the end of the 96-kilometre race yesterday afternoon in Gormalough, Co Meath.

The talented McDunphy has been knocking on the door in recent weeks and has been emerging as one-to-watch over several seasons.

After a runner-up finish to Louis Carnec (UCD-Fitzcycles.ie) at the Cycleways Cup and another strong ride at the Newbridge GP last weekend it was only a matter of time before he broke through.

Yesterday he was again one of the real aggressors in the contest and forced the issue throughout.