The stage though was far from straight forward with the Irishman almost seeing his hope of a high GC position disappear on the road to Lagos de Covadonga due to a crash.
"I fell in a ravine," Martin said after the stage of his crash. "I had to scramble out on my own with the help of spectators. Ryder Hesjedal saved me. He's been brilliant to get me back into racing, especially after winning yesterday's stage."
Martin recovered from his crash to re-join the top GC riders and finished the stage in seventh place, 28 seconds down on winner Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre Merida).
Having crashed out of the Giro d'Italia on the opening stage in May, Martin added he was glad that he could continue on the stage and take time on some of his rivals as well.
"I had fantastic legs today [and] it would have been a pity to lose everything on that crash," he explained.
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