Volta a Catalunya: Dan Martin wins stage 3 on climb to La Molina

Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) took a hard-fought stage 3 victory at Volta a Calatunya, in what was a thrilling last kilometre on the summit finish to La Molina. After a surprise attack against the event's headlining overall contenders, the Irishman muscled his way to the finish with the stage win despite a desperate chase from runner-up Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) in third. BMC teammates Tejay van Garderen and Richie Porte finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Martin's victory bumped him up into the overall race lead by six seconds ahead of Contador and Bardet. The battle for the overall victory will continue with another challenging day in the mountains at the Volta a Catalunya's stage 4 from Bagà to Port Ainé.

The final climb to La Molina

At the base of the finale climb to La Molina, the field’s top climbers moved to the front with Contador and Froome, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) waiting for the right time to strike out.

Lotto Soudal’s Louis Vervaeke was the first to make a move with 10km to go and with no massive response from the peloton he gained some time, sailing passed fading breakaway rider Pieter Weening (Roompot).

Team Sky towed what was left of the field up the shallower slopes, blasting passed Vervaeke with five kilometres go to. They held a tight grip over the next kilometre as the 25 remaining men calculated how they were going to take the finish.

A slight dip down gave the riders some reprieve but the slope kicked up again with two kilometres to go, the perfect time for Wout Poels (Team Sky) launched his attack. He was quickly marked by Quintana and then Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha).

Richie Porte (BMC) was the next to make a move with one kilometre to go, as van Garderen sat slightly further back.

Quintana’s attacked looked strongest so far, Martin punched around him in his own bid for the victory. Martin opened a quick and unmistakable gap as Contador gave chase in a desperate an unsuccessful attempt to close damage.

Martin stormed to the finish line with the stage win as Contador and Bardet raced in for second place, leaving the fourth and fifth places to BMC’s duo Porte and van Garderen.

Bouhanni abandons with illness

Stage 3 at the Volta was a big day for the peloton with four category 1 ascents: Alt de Coubet (66km), Alt de Toses (120km), Alde de La Molina (150km) and the climb to the finish in La Molina.

Overall race leader Nacer Bouhanni, who won stage 1 and stage 2, was forced to abandon part way through. He began losing time after about an hour of racing, losing around five minutes at kilometre 62 and over seven at kilometre 85, and he ultimately abandoned at the 90-kilometre mark.

A seven-man move formed that included Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep), Koen Bouwman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Kevin Reza (FDJ), Johann Van Zyl (Dimension Data), Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi) along with Huub Duijn (Roompot - Oranje Peloton) and Alex Howes (Cannondale).

Howes and Duijin attacked the main breakaway and pushed on together to try and pick up more time on the five chasers and the field. The pair gained 31 seconds while Movistar led the main field into the final two climbs up to La Molina with 37km to go.

It was a day for the climbers with two ascents up to La Molina. The first time up the field took on 10km, descending 12km and then ascended for the second time with 8km to the finish line.

Howes and Duijn started the first ascent together, setting a strong pace and taking equal pulls, and they were later joined by Pieter Weening (Roompot).

Weening rested only for a few seconds on Howes’ and Duijn’s wheels before making one big attack to shed the pair. He quickly built a 20-second gap.

Team Sky amassed with eight riders at the front of the main field setting an undeniable tempo for their overall contender Chris Froome. Geraint Thomas took massive turns for his team and in a mater of a few hundred metres they picked up both Howes and Duijn.

Movistar moved in behind Team Sky near the top of the first time up to La Molina and Contador had two Tinkoff teammates by his side. But Weening’s efforts proved fruitful and he carried almost a minute over the top and into the second section of the first climb, where he picked up full points in the mountain competition.

Jordi Simon (Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team) made a short-lived move but he didn’t gain enough time on the field and was 1:04 behind solo breakaway man Weening.

Weening barreled down the 12km descent but his strong descending skills were not enough to hold off the peloton and he lost 15 seconds with 18km to go and another 15 three kilometres later.

With four kilometres to the start of the final climb, Team Sky had control of the main field and teams Tinkoff, Etixx-QuickStep, Katusha, Cannondale and Movistar all moved to the fore to set up for the finale.

The vibe in the peloton was tense as riders set up ahead of the entrance to the last climb and Louis Meintjes crashed, losing hopes for Lampre-Merida on the climbing stage.

Weening was caught on the final climb but that gave way to a nail-biting finale won by Martin.

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