IRELAND’S DAN MARTIN has slipped back to 18th place in the general classification of the Giro d’Italia after losing 6:14 on the leader Egan Bernal today.
Martin finished stage 11 of the tour in 40th place and is now 7:06 behind the Colombian after starting the day in eighth place overall.
Colombian Bernal, riding for Ineos, tightened his grip on the overall Giro d’Italia lead after Wednesday’s 11th stage won by Switzlerand’s Mauro Schmid.
Team Qhubeka’s Schmid won the 162km stage as part of a long range breakaway while 2019 Tour de France winner Bernal extended his overall lead in Tuscany.
Belgian Remco Evenepoel was another of the big losers of the day, as the race resumed after Tuesday’s rest day, falling behind in the final 20km to drop 2:08 to Bernal, who gained time on all his rivals.
The 24-year-old Colombian was at ease throughout the day and perfectly mastered the final 35km section of white dirt roads that also feature on the Strade Bianche one day classic.
In the climb to Montalcino, Bernal outpaced Russian Aleksandr Vlasov in a group that included British riders Hugh Carthy and Simon Yates.
Evenepoel fell behind a first time in the descent of the first of four dirt road sectors and was definitely trailing in the third were he clearly suffered and had to be helped by Deceuninck-Quick-Step teammate Joao Almeida.
But the 21-year-old Belgian, making his cycling comeback in the Giro after nine months out following an accident, dropped from overall second to seventh at 2:22 adrift of the pink jersey.
France’s Romain Bardet also lost steam late along with Italian climber Giulio Ciccone.
Schmid, 22, pulled clear of Italian breakaway rival Alessandro Covi, finishing just one second ahead for his first professional win.
Overall, Bernal leads Vlasovic by 45 seconds with Italian Damiano Caruso at 1:12.
Thursday’s 12th stage covers 212km between Siena and Bagno di Romana with four climbs including the Passo del Carnaio in the final 10km.
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Incredible day of racing. Bernal was supreme, he’s racing with real panache at this Giro. This was a stage where Dan could have fallen out of the GC battle and so it proved. His kryptonite has always been the positional fight coming into important sections of the route and he wasn’t able to stay near the front as they entered the first secteur of sterrato. Gravel is not a good surface for him and when they put the shoe down up front, it was game over. It could be a blessing in disguise as it frees him up to go stage hunting now and it would be much better to win a stage than finish 9th overall.
epic stage.