Dan Martin sprints in for 3rd place at the end of a very hilly stage 5 at Critérium du Dauphiné 2016, with yellow jersey Alberto Contador just behind. This year the Irish rider is playing down his form.
Dan Martin all set for Critérium du Dauphiné
Having finished 3rd in the Critérium du Dauphiné for the past two years, Dan Martin starts the 2018 edition tomorrow leading UAE Team Emirates.
He says he is looking to build form ahead of the Tour de France; an assault on which is his key season goal.
And while he is playing down his chances this time around, he knows his form must now start to take shape towards the Tour.
The eight-stage Critérium du Dauphiné gets underway tomorrow with a 6.6km prologue TT in Valence.
The 31-year-old Irishman will look to limit his losses in the flat race against the clock.
Advertisement
After that, there follows six road stages and a TTT. And with uphill finishes on all of the final four stages, this is a course that can really suit him.
Indeed, over the last two years he has put in great performances at the Critérium du Dauphiné.
His 3rd places both years have been followed by career best general classification rides at the Tour de France; 9th and 6th respectively.
This time around Dan Martin goes into the Tour tune-up race having had a quieter season. But with everything geared towards the Tour, he will hopefully now step up to the plate.
“The Critérium du Dauphiné is always a good test before the Tour de France,” he said.
“But given that this year there’s an extra week between the end and the start of the Tour de France, I expect that my form will be slightly behind with respect to the past years.
“The training period leading up to this has gone well and my feelings are good. But it’s true that this is a very different race.
Related News
“Most important will be to get rhythm in my legs, race freely and end it with a precise idea of my form for the Tour.
“The Dauphiné is important also because it’s a mini-Tour de France, with an individual time trial, a team time trial – things that are hard to mimic in training.
“And because we race on some of the same roads that we are going to face in the 11th stage of the Tour.”
He will be supported during the coming week by Sven Erik Bystrøm, Valerio Conti, Manuele Mori and Simone Petilli. Also in the team headed by Martin are Edward Ravasi and Rory Sutherland.
As well as Martin, the other general classification contenders include Michał Kwiatkowski and Geraint Thomas of Team Sky.
Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) is another big gun in the race, as well as Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale).
Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) and Paris-Nice winner Marc Soler (Movistar) should also be in the hunt overall.
Others who must be counted into the battle for yellow include Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Warren Barguil (Fortuneo-Samsic)
After tomorrow’s test there are two stages that should end in bunch sprints; into Just-Saint-Rambert and Belleville.
On Wednesday the riders face a TTT; over a 35km flat course. And then comes the climbing; four stages of it.
Stages 4 and 5 feature two summit finishes; in Lans-en-Vercors and Valmorel.
The penultimate stage is a really interesting one; almost identical to stage 11 of July’s Tour de France.
It is just 110 kilometres and takes the riders from Frontenex to La Rosière Espace San Bernardo, with a testing 13km climb to finish on.
And then the final stage is another short but brutish one; some 129km finishing on Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc climb.
Topics
