What a way to secure your first victory in one of cycling’s Monuments: making Joaquim Rodriguez look average in a pulsating final kilometre in Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Yet that’s what Ireland’s Dan Martin did in ‘La Doyenne’ – the oldest of cycling’s Classics – on Sunday. Drawing level with his Spanish rival in the last kilometre, Martin then left Rodriguez for dead with a final dig ahead of the final bend to solo home in style.
While Martin’s win was a piece of individual brilliance it was also the culmination of a carefully thought-out plan by Garmin-Sharp – perfectly executed by both Martin and team-mate Ryder Hesjedal.
Before the race, Canadian reigning Giro d’Italia winner Hesjedal said the team would be riding for Martin during the undulating 262km race through the Belgian countryside.
The race was a rather routine affair until a series of attacks came on the infamous La Redoute climb as the day’s initial break were reeled in some 40km from the finish.
When Hesjedal attacked from a select leading group 16 kilometres from the finish on the penultimate climb of the day, the Cote de Colonster, it looked as if either Garmin were trying out Plan B or Hesjedal had been telling fibs to shield his own ambitions.
Exploiting a moment of indecision from his fellow escapees and a lack of coherence a bit further back down the road amongst the big race favourites, Hesjedal went into full time trial mode as he opened up a 20 second gap ahead of the final climb of the day, the Cote de Saint-Nicolas.
When the counter attacks came thick and fast on the 8.6% slope of the 1.2km climb, Martin was on hand to join the party. The 26-year-old – who finished fifth in last year’s Doyenne – helped chase down the active Carlos Betancur (Ag2R-La Mondiale) before forming a leading group alongside the Colombian, his Canadian team-mate, Rodriguez of Katusha, Italian Michele Scarponi (Lampre) and two-time former winner Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
His chances for the solo win over, Hesjedal still had a huge role to play inside the final five kilometres. The 32-year-old drove the tempo of the six-man break on the flat drag into the finish town of Ans, allowing Martin to save his energy by sitting at the back.
Once Rodriguez made his own attack as the road head back uphill just over one kilometre from the finish, Martin was able to latch on to Scarponi’s wheel in the chase before shedding the Italian and drawing level with Rodriguez, who finished second in the race back in 2009.
Martin had the momentum entering the final 300 metres – and once the road levelled out, the Birmingham-born climbing specialist surprised by launching his sprint early ahead of the final bend. It was a devastating final blow to Rodriguez, whose Ardennes Classics week was wrecked by that crash in last Sunday’s Amstel Gold.
Martin had the luxury of being able to coast across the line – his arms aloft in celebration and that goofy grin of his bigger than ever – as he wrapped up what was the perfect race for both him and his Garmin team.
Hesjedal finished 18 seconds down in eighth place and rode straight to his team-mate for a hug and some words of encouragement. Job well and truly done. Watching at home, team manager Jonathan Vaughters couldn’t hide his feelings of euphoria.
“Hahshahavhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaapprhthfgdghhc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,” he tweeted.
But it’s worth pressing that Martin’s win – or Garmin’s perfect dovetailing of tactics – was no isolated fluke.
Martin placed fifth in this race last year – so we already knew he had the class to be there or thereabouts. A former Vuelta a Espana stage winner, Martin also won this year’s Volta a Catalunya after a victory in stage four which followed a familiar script: Hesjedal buried himself in the break alongside Martin, putting a minute on his team-mate’s main rivals for the GC and giving the Irishman a springboard both for the stage victory that also put him in the leader’s jersey, which he wore till the finish.
The rider he kept off the top rung of the podium? Joaquim Rodriguez.
Then last Wednesday we had the Fleche Wallonne, after which Martin admitted he was “gutted” to have missed out on a podium position by a matter of inches. Having dropped the likes of Philippe Gilbert, Alberto Contador, Peter Sagan and Valverde on the Mur de Huy, Martin was clearly riding into a rich vein of form.
Such was Martin’s promise going into the 99th edition of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Ireland’s only other former winner of ‘La Doyenne’ – Sean Kelly – told me before the race that Martin was his outside tip for the win.
“Valverde is the favourite in the best form but I would watch out for Dan Martin today,” Kelly told me ahead of his commentary shift for Eurosport.
And Kelly – having won the race in both 1984 and 1989 – knows what it takes to triumph in a demanding 262km race that features more than 4,700 vertical metres of climbing.
Most tellingly of all, perhaps, Martin’s team manager – despite his seemingly incredulous reaction to the result – predicted the victory.
Asked before the race who would win by a follower on Twitter, Vaughters replied: “Tactics and hesitation will be the deciding factors after La Redoute. So, intelligence will win. Dan Martin.”
Wise words.
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