Dan Martin is having an excellent season and goes to the Tour of Britain in confident mood and with the full backing of his team to try and win the race overall (Photo: Sirotti)
Having enjoyed his best ever overall finish at the Tour de France in July before riding well but coming up short at the Olympics, Dan Martin is back racing this weekend when he leads Etixx-QuickStep at the Tour of Britain.
And true to form he is backing himself and his team and aiming for outright victory.
The 30-year-old is team leader and among those who will be riding for him his young American Adrien Costa.
The 18-year-old is beginning a stagiaire with the team having ridden out of his skin this season with Axeon Hagens Berman where he has been team mates with Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar.
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Martin said while he could not be fully sure of his form after taking a break since his Olympic road race in Rio, he was aiming big.
"Doing the Tour de France and the Olympic Games was very tiring, physically and mentally,” he explained.
“After the road race, I stayed in Rio to recover and follow my girlfriend, who was competing at the Olympics.
Taking 13th in the road race in Rio last month, when he equalled Ciaran Power’s result from the Athens Games. No Irish rider has ever finished higher in the Olympic road race.
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Martin continued: “It was nice, I cleaned up my mind and once I returned home I started building up for the last part of the season.
“Even though I don't know what to expect from this race, I am keen on honouring it with a win, especially as in the past I came close to a victory, but missed out on one.
“The team is strong, so let's see what we're going to do."
Martin has every right to be confident having shown some of his best form ever at times this year.
While he came away from the Tour de France without a stage win, he attacked the biggest names including eventual winner Chris Froome (Team Sky) several times before finishing the race in 9th place having taken five top 10 stage placings.
The week after the Tour he was 12th in the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian (1.UWT) and followed that up with 13th in the road race in Rio on August 6th.
And in the earlier part of the season he was a stage winner at both the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and Volta a Catalunya.
He held the leader’s jersey in Catalunya for a day and would finish 3rd overall. He then went on to also finish 3rd overall in the Criterium du Dauphiné (2.UWT) just before the Tour de France.
The Tour of Britain starts on Sunday with a 168km stage from Glasgow to Castle Douglas.
The race will also feature Nicolas Roche (Team Sky), Ryan Mullen (Cannondale-Drapac), Conor Dunne (JLT Condor) and Damien Shaw (An Post-Chainreaction).
We’ll bring you all the news throughout next week.
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