The queen stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné was a successful day for the Cannondale-Garmin squad. Andrew Talanksy reached Le Bettex alone, crossing the line in eighth place on stage seven. Slightly further afield, Dan Martin was the 14th rider to reach the finish. The Green Argyle duo sit in eighth place and ninth place overall heading into the final stage of the French tour with Martin 2:29 behind race leader Tejay van Garderen and Andrew Talansky at 2:39 in ninth place.

Like Friday’s stage six, Saturday’s race was action-packed and drama-filled. Nathan Haas represented Cannondale-Garmin in the early move, one of the 13 riders to gain an immediate advantage. The group would grow to 26 riders at its maximum over the third of six categorized climb’s on the day’s menu. Haas remained with the leading group until it shattered over the Col des Aravis.

“We were really happy with Nathan in the early break,” said Martin. “All the guys did a great job all day.”

Heading into the Col de la Croix Fry, Team Sky came to the front.

“Sky hit the Croix Fry hard and it was quickly down to 30 riders, and then 20 over the top,” explained Martin.“I never had a problem and had great legs all day.”

A steep category one climb, the Côte de Amerands, was the fifth climb of six climbs on Saturday. Martin stayed with the rest of the contenders.

“That little steep category one was fun actually for me,” said Martin. “I quite liked it. Sky hit it hard again there, but I was sitting pretty. It was hard for sure but it wasn’t a problem to follow, and I was interested to see what was going to happen on the last climb.”

“It was down to ten at that point,” Martin added. “Andrew came back at the top, and it was a really select group. Having two guys in it was great.”

From the top of the Côte de Amerands, the race headed back down to the village.

“I had a flat there,” Martin explained. “I lost time, and the whole thing was very unlucky but I felt great on the last climb. It’s tough to go from having such great legs to bad luck, but it looks really good going into tomorrow.”