In happier times: Martin was on top of the world at the team presentation in Belfast on Thursday night. Sadly, just 24 hours later he was out of Giro d'Italia 2014. But we'd bet the farm on him winning big before the year is out once he gets himself right (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Dan Martin had surgery on his broken collar bone in Dublin yesterday following his race-ending crash on Friday’s opening stage of the Giro d'Italia in rainy Belfast.
The Garmin-SHARP rider came down hard after just 15 minutes in the team time trial when he hammered a sunken manhole cover and lost his balance, with three of his teammates also hitting the deck.
The Irishman was taken from the site of the crash to a hospital in Belfast where it was confirmed he broke his collar bone in three places and he was later transferred to Dublin.
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And after a successful operation he is on the mend and is expected to be back on his turbo trainer as early as the next day or two – though his race programme for the rest of the season is unclear.
The Tour de France, which starts on July 5th, is seven weeks away and with a recovery period of that length required for injuries of Martin’s nature to heal fully, that race may come too soon for him.
The Vuelta a Espana in August-September, where he won a stage two years ago, is a more likely prospect.
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Philip Deignan, who suffered two broken collar bones in the last eight months, said Martin must just now turn his attention to his next goal.
“Dan has to look forward," said the Team Sky rider, adding he believed the Tour was a possible goal for the resilient Martin.
"He needs to forget about this race now and focus on coming back and try to get ready for the Tour (de France).
“A broken collar bone heals surprisingly quick; you can get an operation and take a week or 10 days off and you’re already back on the home trainer.
“He was already in great shape at the start last week so I don’t think he’ll lose too much fitness. I think he should just focus now on the Tour.”
Martin’s directeur sportif, Charly Wegelius said the team would continue to fight for the remainder of the Giro, with the focus now switching to their other general classification hope and 2012 race winner Ryder Hesjedal.
- Editor's note
From all here at stickybottle, we'd like to wish Dan well and commiserate with him, his family and team for what is a very unfortunate turn of events. His crash is a bitter pill considering his form coming into the race and the fact that he geared his winter preparation and his early season race programme very much towards the Giro.
Dan's father Neil is well known in the Irish set-up as a regular manager of national teams, having recently taken charge of the U23 team at Kerry Group Rás Mumhan over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
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