Tour of Beijing: Dan Martin wins stage 4

Dan Martin (Garmin Sharp) capped off an aggressive performance from his team to claim victory on stage 4 of the Tour of Beijing. The Irish climber attacked inside the final kilometre on the climb of Mentougou Miaofeng to distance his rivals, with Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) finishing second and race leader Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) taking third.

The Belgian rider was forced to dig deep into his reserves on the final climb as Martin – who started the day eleven seconds down on GC - went on the attack. Despite picking up a ten second bonus for his win Gilbert was able to claw back four of them in the sprint for third. The BMC rider now leads the Garmin rider by three seconds with one stage remaining.

Martin’s bid for glory came after Ryder Hesjedal had laid the foundations of Garmin’s intent with a blistering attack midway up the final climb. The Canadian-Irish tandem has combined on a number of occasions in the past, and in this instance the former Giro d’Italia winner ensured that Martin could hide within the bunch as a number of rivals tired themselves out on the final climb.

The tactic paid off, even when Hesjedal was reeled after work from Team Sky’s Dario Cataldo. BMC’s plan was clear from the start as they attempted to keep the pace as even as possible for Gilbert to follow. Samuel Sanchez duly took control of affairs once Hesjedal had been caught but with just under one kilometre remaining Martin’s inevitable attack came.

By that time the steepest sections of the Mentougou Miaofeng had already been covered and the Garmin rider was forced to accelerate several times. Chaves was the only rider capable of matching him as Gilbert and, another former world champion, Rui Costa (Lampre Merida) attempted to drag themselves into contention.

Martin, a man on form after his win in the Tour of Lombardy last week, kicked once more as the line approached and although he was able to finally distance Chaves and pick up the ten second bonus for his win he was unable overturn his overall deficit to Gilbert.

How it unfolded
With only one major uphill finish in this year’s Tour of Beijing, Monday’s stage 4 between Yanqing and Mentougou Miaofeng Mountain was always going to play a significant part in the final outcome of the race. Six categorised climbs lay in wait for the peloton with the final ascent always destined to be the final battle ground with 11 seconds separating the top 24 riders in the race.

An early break of four formed inside the opening 25 kilometres of the action with Graeme Brown (Belkin), Guillaume Boivin (Cannondale), Boris Vallee (Lotto Belisol), and Julien Vermote (Omega Pharma QuickStep) establishing a four minute lead. Vermote sat just 21 seconds off Gilbert’s overall race lead and was the strongest rider in the break, riding away from his companions on the lower slopes of the final climb.

By that stage BMC and Garmin had combined to reduce the break’s lead to under a minute, nullifying the majority of QuickStep’s advantage before the climb had even begun.

With the gradient varying from around four to six percent and small pitches peaking at seven, there were a number of twisting corners to attack from. When Vermote was finally caught a flurry of attacks soon followed with AG2R and Lampre looking to break up Garmin’s rhythm.

Louis Vervaeke (Lotto Belisol) was the first rider to open up a sizeable gap, the young Belgian establishing a ten second lead as Gilbert and Sanchez discussed tactics at the back of a thinned out group of contenders.

Cataldo moved to the front of the peloton in a bid to set up David Lopez but when Vervaeke’s legs began to buckle Hesjedal picked his moment to jump clear. Constantly looking back, the Canadian quickly opened up an impressive but bridgeable ten second lead, as Cataldo forced the pace once more. Martin, meanwhile, moved into second wheel and when his teammate was finally caught after some excellent work from Pieter Weening, Sanchez continued where the Dutchman had left off.

Into the final kilometre and Martin punched clear with Chaves on his wheel. Rui Costa and Gilbert immediately tried to respond but were unable to deal with the immediate acceleration as Warren Barguil and Rigoberto Uran began to lose ground. With just two final corners to go Martin pushed on the pedals once more, distancing Chaves by two seconds, with a fast finishing Gilbert securing third.

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