Dan Martin on his way to a stage win in the Tour de France last year. He now has a programme of very tough racing to rescue his season, starting in Spain this weekend (Photo: Stefano Sirotti)
By Brian Canty
Dan Martin's next race will be Saturday's 227km Clasica San Sebastien in the north east corner of Spain.
The one-day race should suit the Garmin-Sharp rider as it features a number of stinging climbs. And having not ridden the Tour de France, Martin should be fresh enough to have a real cut off of it.
His preparations took a slight setback lately when he crashed while out training and chipped a tooth. But the spill was nothing too severe and he will start the race with the backing of a strong team.
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After that, Martin will race the extremely hilly five-day Tour l'Ain in the French Alps.
There's an opening prologue of 4.6 kilometres and stage three is pan flat but stages two, four and five are anything but.
Philip Deignan has had a great year so far and after a rest he now throws himself into action at the Tour of Poland.
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In total, there are 14 categorised climbs in those three days; two category one climbs, two category two climbs, six category three climbs and four category four climbs.
The winner of the race last year was French rider Romain Bardet, who was one of the stars of the Tour this year, while Andrew Talansy and Haimar Zubeldia are previously took the overall.
After that, the Irishman will look to the Vuelta a Espana and the World Championships.
Meanwhile, Philip Deignan's next races are the Tour of Poland and the Vuelta.
The Team Sky rider had a hectic May and June after racing the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de Suisse a week later but enjoyed some down time following those events.
He is now, however, cranking up his second half to the season and can look to the week-long Polish stage race, which starts on Monday, and the Vuelta, which starts on August 23rd.
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