Daniel Martin secured a superb victory in his debut pro season, winning the prestigious Route du Sud race in France.
Assisted by the strong backing of his Slipstream Chipotle team, he maintained his advantage over all his main rivals on the concluding 207.1 kilometre stage to Castres and landed both the biggest win of his career and also the top Irish professional victory since the days of Kelly and Roche.
Still just 21 years old, Martin made it into a crucial breakaway on stage one that gained over half an hour on the main field. That narrowed the list of contenders down to just 16 riders.
He was fifth on that opening leg to Boulogne sur Gesse, and then moved up to second overall when he placed sixth on Friday’s mountain time-trial to Cauterets Cambasque.
Noan Lelarge won the race against the clock and started the following day's gruelling mountain stage to Luchon Superbagneres 17 seconds clear.
He cracked and was listed as a non-finisher; Martin, on the other hand, had an excellent race, dropping all the other overall contenders on the final climb and finishing fourth behind three riders who had been clear in the day’s big breakaway.
He carried a 1:42 advantage over Christophe Moreau (Agritubel) into today’s final leg and successfully defended his lead. Jussi Veikkanen (Française des Jeux) won the stage.
Martin is expected to ride next week’s Irish road race championships in Cork. The son of former British pro rider Neil Martin and Maria Roche, sister of Stephen Roche, he opted for Irish nationality several seasons ago.
