Dan Martin is set to line out in two of his favoured races in coming days in the hopes that the form he built during the Tour de France might kick start a successful second part to the 2020 season for him.
The Irish cyclist gets his post-Tour campaign underway
tomorrow in Belgium with La Flèche Wallonne and then gets back into action four
days later in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
His Israel Start-Up Nation team has said clearly Martin
is its leader for the races, which it is aiming to win.
“The goal is simple; to win with Dan
in the Ardennes,” said team sports director Eric Van Lancker.
While it has been a few years since Martin has ridden at
his best in La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he has been ill at
times for the races.
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Since he last performed in these two races at his best a generational change has taken place in cycling and others who were breaking through two or three seasons ago are now fully fledged winners at the highest level.
Tomorrow at La Flèche Wallonne on the iconic finish up Mur
de Huy, for example, Martin will face the likes of Tour winner Tadej Pogačar
(UAE Team Emirates) as well as Tour stage winners Miguel Ángel López and Alexey
Lutsenko (both Astana) and Dani Martinez (EF Pro Cycling) as well as Tour
yellow jersey Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott).
Others who may be in the mix include 3rd in
the Tour Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), Rigoberto Urán (EF Pro Cycling), Tom
Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain McLaren); all having shown
great form in the Tour and/or at the Worlds.
Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) is also capable of winning and recently took the Tour de Luxembourg overall, winning two stages along the way. Likewise, Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb) won a Tour stage and was 3rd at the Worlds on Sunday and while still just 22-years-old he could win tomorrow.
However, Dan Martin at his best has a finishing kick up
such a steep finish as good as, or better, than the vast majority of those
riders. Added to that, many of the leading pros who could match Martin on such
a finish are not riding this time.
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Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), who has won the event five times, will not be on the start line and neither will new world champion Julian Alaphilippe, the Deceuninck-QuickStep man who has won the past two editions.
Now aged 34 years and a father of two young children, it
is difficult to predict how Dan Martin will do in the events this year as he
comes into the races after a difficult period.
He crashed in Critérium du Dauphiné in the middle of last
month and fractured a bone in his back, being forced out of the race.
While he then won a fitness battle to be on the start
line of the Tour de France, he needed the first half of the race to ride
himself into it.
However, in the second part of the event he looked like
he was getting back to his former self; going on the attack in the mountains a
number of times and if he has continued on that trajectory he can threaten
tomorrow.
Martin made his Ardennes debut as a 22-year-old back in
2009. That year he finished both La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège;
in 56th and 98th respectively.
Since then he has figured repeatedly in both; taking 5th
in Liège in 2012, winning it the following year and looking certain to win
again in 2014 when he crash on the last corner.
He was also 2nd in the event in 2017 but was an underwhelming
18th in 2018 and failed to finish last year due to illness leading up to it.
He has yet to win La Flèche Wallonne but was 6th in 2012,
4th in 2013, 2nd in 2014, 3rd in 2016 and 2nd in 2017. Martin was 61st in the
race two years ago and failed to finish last year.
His record in both races is very much a game or two
halves; one marked by progress and success up to 2017 followed by a much more
difficult period during his two years with UAE Team Emirates.
However, he will look to kick start that former success in the Ardennes in coming days and if he is over his fractured bone and has recovered after the Tour, he can get a result tomorrow.
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