The Ineos Grenadiers started Sunday's stage 9 of the Tour de France with four riders inside the top 10 overall, but the team closed out the day with one fewer GC hopeful near the top of the standings after Daniel Martínez lost some 15 minutes to the yellow jersey.
For the most part, the main GC contenders kept their powder dry on the Alpine climbs without putting in any major attacks as riders from the breakaway battled for the stage win. Even without any open hostilities from the big names, however, the tempo in the pack was high enough to put paid to the GC hopes of at least a handful of riders, with Martínez the biggest notable to lose touch on the Pas de Morgins.
The 26-year-old Colombian had been named as one of the team's leaders going into this year's Tour, but any GC aspirations he may have had crumbled on Sunday.
Martínez fell off the pace on the early goings of the final categorised climb and was unable to claw back to the group. From there, he quickly lost minute after minute as the pack continued to surge uphill, took on a short descent before a final uncategorized climb, and then ascended to the finish line.
While race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) picked up three seconds in the finale to Geraint Thomas, Adam Yates, and Tom Pidcock, that trio's Ineos Grenadiers teammate Martínez fared far worse in the end - 15.03 back on Pogacar’s time. When all was said and done, Martínez had tumbled down the Tour GC standings from 10th at 1:59 back to 30th at 17:12 back.
"He wasn't feeling so good today. It showed there didn't it?" Ineos deputy team principal Rod Ellingworth said after the stage.
"We shall see what's happened but it's a little bit disappointing for him I'm sure, because he's come here for a higher result than what he's going to get now, but there we go, that's life."
So far in the race, despite Pogačar's impressive showings, Ineos Grenadiers' strength in numbers has been encouraging, with the team still sending multiple options to the start line each day. The ability to play different cards on the attack could come in handy as the road continues to climb at the Tour. Before Sunday, Martínez looked to be playing his part in that strategy. The winner of the 2020 Critérium du Dauphiné and this year's Itzulia Basque Country, who has finished as highly as fifth overall at a Grand Tour at last year's Giro d'Italia, had hung with the GC contenders deep into the tougher stages of the race thus far.
That run of success ended on Sunday as UAE Team Emirates pushed a high pace over the climbs, with Marc Soler and then George Bennett putting in much of hard work that would keep the break from getting too much time and that would ultimately distance Martínez in the final half hour of racing on the Pas de Morgins. That said, Ineos does still have three riders within striking distance of the race lead. Former Tour winner Thomas is in third at 1:17 back, Yates is in fourth at 1:25 back, and Pidcock – enjoying a fine Tour debut so far – is in seventh at 1:46 back.
Ellingworth said Sunday that the rough day out for Martínez would not change his team's approach all that much moving forward.
"Not really, no," Ellingworth said. "At the end of the day, we've still got the three guys on GC. Tom's there, I think the road has played its part so far with Tom and we'll see."
