CYCLING:WITH JUST over one week until the start of the Vuelta a España, Irish professional Dan Martin says he is feeling good and looking forward to seeing how the third Grand Tour of his career goes.
The 24-year-old Garmin-Cervélo rider finished an excellent second last weekend in the Tour of Poland, going to within six seconds of winning the race for the second year in succession.
Although he was beaten by the Liquigas rider Peter Sagan, the difference came down to the time bonuses gained by the Slovakian in the intermediate and finishing sprints. Martin won the penultimate stage and held the lead going into the last day, but Sagan got sufficient bonuses to edge ahead.
Martin was philosophical about the outcome. “I knew the time bonuses were going to be an important factor and when I saw Sagan’s name on the start list, I had a feeling he would be up there,” he said. “It’s a pity, as if it wasn’t for those time bonuses I would have won again,” he said.
Martin was undoubtedly the strongest climber in the race, though, and jumped from 44th to 19th in the world rankings as a result. He is now getting ready for the Vuelta a España.
“I have never been up there in the general classification of a Grand Tour before, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. . .
“The team will have a lot of options, with riders for the sprints and myself and Christophe Le Mevel for the hillier stages. A lot of the harder stages will be in the second week, so that will allow me to sharpen up in the first few days.”
Several Irish riders have been competing in the masters’ world track championships in Montichiari, Italy. Orwell Wheelers Dundrum TC rider Stephen McNally won gold earlier this week in the 45-49 age group 3km pursuit, beating Britain’s Trevor Burke in the final by over two seconds. Aideen Collard then took silver in Wednesday’s 35-39 women’s pursuit.
Several Irish riders will take part in Sunday’s Olympic test event in London. David McCann, Matt Brammeier, Martyn Irvine, Peter Hawkins and Felix English line out in national team colours, while Philip Lavery and Sam Bennett form part of the An Post Grant Thornton M Donnelly Seán Kelly selection.
