After taking two of the biggest wins of his career in recent weeks, Irish pro Dan Martin will return to racing next week psyched to work hard in the build-up to what will be his second Tour de France.
Martin will resume competition in the Bayern Rundfarht, which begins next Tuesday and runs for six days. Martin won the Volta a Catalunya in March and then took the prestigious Liège-Bastogne-Liège Classic on April 21st. His aim for the German race is simply to get moving again after taking a break, then after that he will likely ride the Tour de Suisse as his pre-Tour preparation.
The latter will not be a specific target, but if he has the form and opportunity to take a result, he'll grab it. "I will look at the course and go in there just aiming to do my best," he told The Irish Times. "I have never done the Tour of Switzerland before . . . it will be a good race to go and discover. It is very close to the Tour so hopefully I will be in pretty decent form and will be able to do something on a stage and maybe even the general classification."
During his time off Martin spent a week in Ireland and rode the DID Electrical Cycle4Life. Over 1,000 riders of all ages and abilities took part and raised more than €200,000 between them. This will be used to redevelop the “Top Flat” ward in Temple Street Children’s hospital.
Perform better
Martin is particularly psyched for the Tour de France, with his results this year suggesting that he should perform better than his debut last July.
His form then was hampered by a crash in the preceding event, the Critérium du Dauphiné, then further compromised when he fell ill with a chest infection during the Tour. He also had to wait for his Garmin-Sharp team-mates when they crashed on stage three. However three top 10 stage finishes were encouraging.
Some view Martin as a potential contender for future Tours. He doesn’t want to make any such predictions, saying simply that he is happy with his progression. That said, after his successes in Catalunya and Liège, he admits that he does have more confidence for longer races.
“I am not going to set any ambitions, it is still only my second participation and we have got an incredibly strong team with a lot of cards to play.
As far as Grand Tour ambitions, that is something that will come.
“I did the Vuelta in 2011 and it wasn’t a bad result. If you take away the time trial that was a disaster for me because I had a bit of an illness in the morning and then the time penalty I had, I would have been fighting for a top five or top six position,” he said, where he won a stage and finished 13th overall.
“If I had finished fifth or sixth in the 2011 Vuelta, people would be looking at me as a Grand Tour contender.
“What’s clear is that I am lot stronger than I have ever been. The Grand Tour thing is still an unknown. I have definitely developed psychologically and physically now, so maybe this is the year I start to shine in those races too.”
