Dan Martin Tour de France 2018: The Irish rider's team had a dismal ride today. But he has found hope in the performance as he looks towards the Tour.
Irish rider Dan Martin has sought to put aside his team’s poor showing in the Critérium du Dauphiné TTT, saying it has given him confidence.
His UAE Team Emirates squad was 20th of the 22 teams in the 35km test today.
And while he would lose 2:28 to winners Team Sky in what appeared a disastrous result, Martin was looking on the bright side.
He suggested the team that was riding the Dauphiné was not as strong as the line-up that will be in the Tour.
And as far as his own ride went today; he felt very comfortable. Furthermore, he was more confident about how he would do in the stage 3 TTT at the Tour after today’s outing.
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"I've got a massive confidence boost going into the team time trial; knowing the team at the Tour will be a lot stronger,” he said.
“That's now one of the stages in the first nine days I'm not particularly worried about.”
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He also said the next four days – all involving both climbing during the stages and uphill finishes – were important.
"It's going to be a really intense few days,” he confirmed. “I'm a bit unsure about how it is going to go after not racing for a while. Either way, we're just going to go for it.
The TTT, for him, was more about how he felt rather than the result.
“It's the first time we've done a team time trial and we've got a very young team here,” he said.
Dan Martin added it was clear from the prologue results of the riders’ in the team that, as a unit, they were not going to be TTT specialists.
“The team has had a really good atmosphere this week and we looked after each other today,” he said.
"Everyone got the maximum out of themselves. And I felt really good, so that's a good sign for the next couple of days.”
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