On a dramatic day where overall leader Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) crashed out of the race, Daniel Martin produced an impressive solo effort as the lone survivor of an early 23-man break. He held off a strong final surge by Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) to win the stage and take over the overall lead.

Most expected today's queen stage in the Volta a Catalunya to be a big battle between Joaquin Rodriguez, Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana and Bradley Wiggins (Sky). They were, however, all foiled by a young Irishman who put the collective might of the strong Sky and Katusha teams on the defensive with a fantastic solo effort.

Daniel Martin had joined an early, very strong 23-man group which escaped early in today's stage. Starting the stage just 30 seconds behind overall leader Valverde, he was a real threat to the GC aspirations of the favourites, and so the group was kept under firm control by Movistar.

When Alejandro Valverde crashed out of the race in dramatic fashion, a moment of hesitation in the peloton made the gap grow rapidly before Sky took on the chasing duties. They managed to bring back the gap to just around 2 minutes as they entered the day's final climb.

The mighty British team looked to have everything in complete control, but they had not taken into account a stubborn Irishman. One by one his fellow escapees dropped off while the usually irresistible Sky train of Joshua Edmondson, Dario Cataldo, David Lopez and Rigoberto Uran failed to make any inroads in his advantage.

With Wiggins in the unusual position of being isolated, Katusha put Giampaolo Caruso on the front, but even his effort did not put Martin under pressure. Sensing the danger, Quintana burst clear, and he was later joined by Rodriguez in one of his trademark final accelerations.

The duo fought hard to reduce the advantage, but was unable to close the gap to the fighting Martin. The Irishman soloed to an impressive triumph with a 36 seconds gap on his two pursuers and took a memorable second season victory for Garmin after Andrew Talansky's win in Paris-Nice.

Martin now takes a 10 second advantage on Rodriguez into tomorrow's fifth stage which - on paper - looks to be one for the sprinters.

A dangerous 23-man group sets off

If anyone thought that it could not get any harder than yesterday's mountain stage, today's stage was sure to prove them wrong. At a mammoth 217 km and with 5 categorized climbs - among those two in the HC category - and with a summit finish on Port Ainé, this was a day of attrition coming on the back of the first big battle between the favourites.

Most teams knew that the hard terrain would make the stage difficult to control, and this made for an attacking opening. After cresting the summit of the first climb, a group finally got clear, and it was a dangerous one. No less than 23 riders managed to a get a gap, and among those were a number of talented climbers. The group consisted of Carlos Betancur (Ag2r), Fabio Aru (Astana), Laurens Ten Dam (Blanco), Steven Kruijswijk (Blanco), Ivan Santaromita (BMC), Cristiano Salerno (Cannondale), Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel), Laurent Pichon (FDJ), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin), Daniel Martin (Garmin), Alberto Losada (Katusha), Yury Trofimov (Katusha), Jurgen Van De Walle (Lotto), Jose Herrada (Movistar), Gianluca Brambilla (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Carlos Verona (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Robert Kiserlovski (Radioshack), Danny Pate (Sky), Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff), Rob Ruijgh (Vacansoleil), David Arroyo (Caja Rural), Yoann Bagot (Cofidis) and Rudy Molard (Cofidis).

Cristiano Salerno made sure to crest the summit of the first three climbs in front of companions to all but sew up his overall victory in the mountains classification. Behind, Movistar knew that Martin's presence posed a threat to the overall lead of Valverde, and they made sure to keep the gap around the 2 minute mark.

Valverde abandons

Disaster struck for the Spanish team with around 100 km remaining when Valverde and teammate Eros Capecchi were forced to abandon after a crash on a dangerous descent from an uncategorized climbs. The ensuing hesitation allowed the gap to balloon to 4.40 before Sky took over the responsibility at the head of the peloton.

The gap started to fall, and as the break entered the final climb, Garmin knew that they had to up the pace. Giro champion Ryder Hesjedal sacrificed his own chances for teammated Martin, and the big group slowly started to disintegrate. Nicolas Roche put in an acceleration near the top, and he crested the summit with a 20 second gap on his former companions.

As they entered the final climb, Roche had almost a minute on the Hesjedal-led group while Sky had brought the gap to the peloton back down to the 2 minute mark. As soon as they hit the lower slopes, Martin went to the front and one by one his companions dropped off. Roche was picked up and spat out the back, and as Robert Kiserlovski and later Jose Herrada had to let go, Martin found himself alone in the front inside the final 10 km.

Gesink and Van Den Broeck attack

Sky used up all the ressources of its train with the likes of Peter Kennaugh, Joshua Edmondson, Dario Cataldo and David Lopez all dropping off before Rigoberto Uran had to take over as Wiggins' last domestique. Robert Gesink (Blanco) and Jurgen Van Den Broeck were out for revenge, and both attacked the Sky-led peloton and were able to build up a gap.

The Dutch-Belgian duo gradually picked up and dropped the remnants of the early break before Gesink could no longer keep up with the Lotto-Belisol captain. The Belgian soloed towards the top in an attempt to catch Martin, but he failed to make any inroads.

Quintana and Rodriguez accelerate off the front

With Wiggins isolated, Caruso took over at the front to help his team leader Rodriguez. Just moments later Quintana lost his patience and put in his attack. He quickly passed Gesink and Van Den Broeck, and finally someone was able to drastically reduce Martin's advantage.

Inside the final two kilometres, he was joined by Rodriguez who had soloed off the front of the peloton. The Colombian and the Spaniard joined forces in an attempt to minimize the damage, but they were too late. Martin soloed to an impressive win and took over the lead. Rodriguez was 2nd ahead of Quintana while Van Den Broeck and Gesink both managed to hold off a quartet consisting of Bradley Wiggins, Peter Stetina (Garmin), Michele Scarponi (Lampre) and Tom Danielson (Garmin) on a fantastic day for Jonathan Vaughters' American outfit.

The race continues tomorrow with a 156,5 km stage. After cresting the summit of a category 1 mountain midway through the stage, a flat run-in to the finish ensues, and so the sprinters will look for one final chance in the race before the weekend's decisive stages.