VaE: Martin beats the favourites on Stage 9 as Rodriguez struggles

Dan Martin took his first Grand Tour victory and moved in to the mountain’s jersey, as Bauke Mollema went in to red, on stage 9.

Martin sprinted the final metres of the climb and was almost caught, by a charging Mollema, but held out until the line. The Irishman had initially jumped off the front, with less than 5 kilometres to go, and was followed by his cousin, Nicolas Roche. The pair pulled out a small gap, but Roche was unable to keep up the pace and slid back in to the main group.

He was not on his own for too long, when he was joined by Vincenzo Nibali, and took out 15 seconds on his nearest riders. Michele Scarponi tried to bridge the gap, but he eventually went out the other end and lost time. Sky duo, Chris Froome and Bradley really put the hammer down and took Mollema and Juan Jose Cobo with them.

Froome took first shift and powered his way up the climb, before Wiggins began to time-trial towards the finish line. The Londoner looked unbeatable at times, while the others struggled to keep up with his pace. One of the pre-Vuelta favourites, Jurgen Van Den Broeck cracked before the top and ended up almost 20 seconds on the group.

It seemed some of their earlier efforts had taken their toll, as only Mollema could keep up with Martin in the sprint. Cobo claimed third, while Wiggins crossed the line four seconds down. The victory moves Martin five seconds ahead of Wiggins in the GC, now in 12^th, and two points up on Matteo Montaguti, in the mountain’s classification.

One day after his stunning hill sprint finish, Joaquim Rodriguez lost a packet of time on the one and only climb of the day. Rodriguez started well and looked like he could keep up with the others, but once they had reached half way it seemed it was just too much for the Spaniard. Mollema sits one second ahead of him in the GC, with Nibali only eight seconds behind him.

Other losers of the day were Carlos Sastre and Igor Anton, who lost almost two minutes on the climb to Sierra de Bejar. La Covatilla. Anton had looked like he was making amends for his bad start to the Vuelta, but he now sits over four minutes down in the classification.

The time-trial of stage 10 should throw up a few twists and turns, in the Vuelta story, and probably put a few people out of contention. Nibali will be favourite, to take control of the red jersey, while Rodriguez will want to forget the horror of last year. The 47km course is relatively flat, but the slight rise will hurt the tired legs a bit.