He took a stage win and third overall in the recent Volta a Catalunya, but Dan Martin’s campaign in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco (Tour of the Basque Country) has been an uncharacteristically quiet one. He finished 112th on Thursday’s fourth stage, ending the day 20 minutes 31 seconds back in 70th overall.

However, Martin has dismissed any presumptions that his modest showing could be due to illness.

"If I was sick I wouldn't still be in the race," he told The Irish Times on Thursday. He said that he was still a little fatigued from Catalunya and had decided to use the event for training.

Martin is building up for this month’s Ardennes Classic races, which are his biggest spring targets. Keeping a low profile in the Spanish race should mean he is off the radar somewhat for Flèche Wallonne on April 20th.

An Post additions

In other news, two more teams have been confirmed for this year’s An Post Rás. The Austrian Tirol Cycling Team has won the past two editions with Clemens Fankhauser and Lukas Postlberger, and will return aiming for another big performance.

Fankhauser has rejoined the team and showed superb form recently when taking second on the most difficult stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali last month.

He will likely be joined by team-mates Martin Weiss, Patrick Bosman and 2012 European junior road race champion Alexander Wachter in the event. One other will be added to the lineup before the May 22nd start.

Meanwhile, former Tour of Qatar winner Wouter Mol and past Belkin rider Jetse Bol are two of the five named for the Dutch team Join-S | De Rijke.

Finally, Eddie Dunbar, Michael O’Loughlin, Sean McKenna, Matthew Teggart, David Montgomery and Angus Fyffe have been confirmed as the Cycling Ireland team for the Under-23 Tour of Flanders in Belgium tomorrow.