Dan Martin has said he "can't wait" until he is joined by Chris Froome at Israel Start-Up Nation next season, adding the Vuelta was important for Froome's recovery.
The Irish rider made his comments on the rest day of La Vuelta yesterday; a race where he has scored two 3rd places and a stage win so far. He is also 3rd overall, just 20 seconds off the race lead, ahead of the resumption of hostilities today.
Froome is also riding in Spain, with the Grand Tour his last event for Ineos Grenadiers after having ridden with the team for 11 years of his 14-year pro career to date.
Froome has struggled in the race and is still a long way off the kind of form that has made him the most successful Grand Tour rider of his generation, with four wins in the Tour de France, two at La Vuelta and one at the Giro d'Italia.
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"The fact that he’s even on a bike this year after his crash is amazing, and I think this Vuelta will do him the world of good,” Dan Martin said of Froome, who suffered what could have been a career-ending crash in June, 2019, during a recon of the TT at Critérium du Dauphiné.
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Dan Martin continued: "I'm sure that the determination and passion that he has, after all that he's won he is still hungry for success, is going to drive him forward to being successful.
"I can't wait to race on the same team as him. His
whole presence is just going to inspire everybody and lift everybody up again
next year.
"I talked to Chris about this team before he even
signed. He was asking questions about how good the team is, and obviously I
encouraged him to come.
"Even this week we've talked every day in the
peloton, obviously because of him coming into the team. When I signed for this
team last year a lot of people questioned my decision.
"But I saw the ambition and believed in this project. And I think Chris has seen the same ambition that I have seen."
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