Dan Martin is set to get his 2021 season underway
tomorrow at Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var in France after Covid-19 forced
him to change his racing plans for the start of the new campaign.
The Irish rider, who look rejuvenated last year with 4th
overall and a stage win at La Vuelta, had been due to ride Volta a la Comunitat
Valenciana, which has been called off due to the pandemic.
He now starts his 2021 season with three hard days of
racing in France alongside some of his team’s new riders, including Michal
Woods, Sep Vanmarcke, Daryl Impey and Patrick Bevin. The team is completed by
Hugo Hofstetter and Krists Neilands.
The Irishman will have no time to ease himself into the race as it is a short and sharp test, with serious opposition.
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Tomorrow the opening stage takes the riders some 186.8km
from Biot to Gourdon, with three ascents of a cat 2 Col de Gourdon,
at 14km, to contend with on the finishing circuits, including a summit finish
atop the climb.
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Saturday’s stage 2 is perhaps not as hard, though it is still lumpy, and features at 1.2km at 9.8 per cent to finish on in Fayence after 169km of racing.
The final stage on Sunday features three cat 1 climbs, but without an uphill finish. The summit of the final climb of the day, the Col de la Madone de Gorbio, is about 25km from the finish of the 136km stage into Blausasc.
While Martin has a strong team in the race
and comes into the race buoyed by his results late last year, the terrain and
opposition in France will be a stern test for him so early in the season.
Among the field are: Nairo Quintana
(Arkea Samsic), Giulio Ciccone and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo),
Thibaut Pinot and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Jesus
Herrada (Cofidis).
There is also the small matter of an Ineos Grenadiers
line-up comprised of Pavel Sivakov, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Tom Pidcock, Geraint
Thomas and Rohan Dennis.
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