Sky: We slowed down for Valverde

The mighty Sky train was put under pressure by an incredibly strong Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) in yesterday's queen stage in the Volta a Catalunya. The British team hailed the performance of the Irishman, but claimed that the crash of race leader Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and the ensuing hesitation was the main reason for the team's failure.

Many have tried to escape the clutches of the Sky train and use up the domestique forces of team leader Bradley Wiggins, but few have had any success in their mission. Yesterday was a rare exception as Daniel Martin managed to hold off the might of the British squad.

Movistar had controlled the early 23-man break in the opening phases of the race, but after the crash of race leader Alejandro Valverde, the team stopped its effort. With Martin starting the day just 30 seconds behind Valverde and Wiggins and Rodriguez virtual leaders of the race, Sky knew that they had to step up if they wanted to keep their options for overall victory open.

They managed to bring back the gap to around 2 minutes at the bottom of the final climb, but the usually irresistible train of Dario Cataldo, David Lopez and Rigoberto Uran failed to make any serious inroads into the advantage of the Irishman as soon as the road headed upwards. As Uran had to drop off with around 5 km to go, Wiggins was in the unusual position of being isolated while his prospects of overall victory were seriously under threat.

Only when team captains Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) kicked into action themselves, the gap to Martin started to drop rapidly. It was, however, too late, and the Irishman took the most beautiful victory of his career.

Meanwhile, Wiggins struggled to keep up with his most dangerous pre-race rivals, and he finished in 6th, 1.02 behind Martin and 26 seconds behind Rodriguez and Quintana.

Sports director Marcus Ljungqvist was impressed by Martin's ability to hold off his team. However, he insisted that the crash of Valverde and the ensuing confusion around his further participation was the main reason behind the situation getting out of control.

“Twenty-three guys went away and Movistar started controlling things, but then Valverde crashed out and it was then up to us to take control," he said. "We slowed down for Valverde, so the breakaway got more time - nearly 4:30 - but we managed to bring it back to about 1:20. But then Martin rode so well on the last climb and we couldn’t catch him."

With Wiggins now in fourth overall, 36 seconds behind new leader Martin, and 22 and 4 seconds behind Rodriguez and Quintana, respectively, Ljungqvist admits that overall victory is now beyond their capabilities, but he vowed to try to move onto the podium.

“It is going to be difficult to challenge for the general classification, but second place is still up for grabs", he said. "The race is not over and we are not giving up. With all that happened today, we should look at ourselves and be pretty happy with our ride.”

The race continues today with its fifth stage that seems to be one for the sprinters. Instead, Wiggins will focus his energy on the two hilly stages of the weekend where he will try to gain back those 4 seconds on Quintana.