Dan Martin would have liked to have gone a bit faster in yesterday's TT, but is not obsessed with his position overall and remains determined to take the race stage by stage.
Dan Martin has said while very few of the overall contenders in this year’s Tour de France made an impact on the leader board during yesterday’s 33km time trial, he would have liked to have performed a bit better.
The Irishman, and winner of stage 9 in the mountains on Sunday, came home in 62nd place, some 3:36 down on stage winner and World TT Champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep).
The Garmin-Sharp climber started the stage in 8th place overall, 2:28 in arrears. He is now 13th overall, some 5:52 down on yellow jersey Chris Froome (Team Sky).
However, with plenty of climbs to come and with the TT never going to be his speciality, especially on a mainly flat course with only modest climbing, Martin would have expected to lose time yesterday and will take heart in the many opportunities that lay ahead.
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“I didn’t feel bad, I just didn’t have the power to push the gear,” he said today writing in his daily Tour Diary in The Irish Times.
“Maybe I am still paying for the efforts I put in on Sunday when I won the stage. I did my best possible effort and have to be content with that.”
He felt he had perhaps started too quickly and paid the price on the flatter half of the course where there was also a headwind to contend with, a factor that would have suited bigger, more powerful riders.
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He said in a post race interview: "I wanted to use the first part of the course to not lose too much time. But my legs just weren't great today, but that's normal after 11 days of racing. But I did my best, I have to be happy."
When asked if he could finish in the top five overall he said: "That's not my goal. My goal is to take it every day as it comes and I've got 10 more one-day races to finish. Every day I look at the parcours and see what the deal is. In Paris we'll see where I am in the end."
He was pleased to have done around the same time as GC threat Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and another dangerman Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), adding they have similar abilities to his.
But he would have liked to have been closer to Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde, both of whom were just over 1 minute faster.
While he hoped to do a good GC ride, he was not “obsessed” by how he did overall. He would continue to take the race day by day and was today, Thursday, looking forward to a flat stage and staying upright and not losing any significant time.
Martin also paid tribute to the Irish fans following the race, saying he noticed a lot of tricolours on the TT course.
"The number of people on the side of the road is incredible, I never saw anything like that."
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