Dan Martin said he was glad to get through today's stage 2 at La Vuelta as the wind had whipped up and blown trees down at his team hotel, leading to nervousness about the conditions.
His Israel Start-Up Nation team said the gusts reached 200km per hour on the final climb of the day, with Martin placing 3rd on the stage behind solo winner Marc Soler (Movistar) and race leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma).
After finishing in the favourtites' group and taking time bonuses for his two 3rd places over the past two days, Martin is now up to 2nd overall behind Roglic. He will also get to wear the points classification leader's jersey on tomorrow's stage 3, again in the mountains.
While Roglic and Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) are ahead of him in that competition, they are leading the race overall and the climbers' classification respectively, meaning the points jersey passes to the Irish rider.
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“Seriously, it was scary,” Martin said of the conditions after the stage end. “It was actually a day I was a little bit worried about,
because there was a hell of a lot of wind.
“Last night we had a tree blown over in the car park of
our hotel, so everyone was very nervous, it’s days like this you can lose a lot
of time.
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“But Reto (Hollenstein) did a great job to protect me in
the wind, and we got ourselves into the front split when Movistar attacked, and
I’d good legs on the climb then, and got to follow.
“We just kept on the GC leaders and waited for the
sprint. The team Movistar and Jumbo had numbers there, and in that situation it
is difficult to attack for the stage victory.
“I just waited and waited, and I think 3rd is a really
good result again. And we’re definitely on the right track in this race.
“Thursday is another day, it’s important we stay
concentrated and don’t get carried away, and enjoy these results.
“It’s only takes one bad day to lose your place in the
general classification. So every result we can make, the longer we can stay in
the front, and all that is definitely a good experience for the team.
“At the moment I do feel my legs are in great shape but
we don’t know how long it will last. But we’re enjoying it.”
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