On the attack at the Tour de France last year; Martin says he’s in great mental and physical shape
By Brian Canty
Ireland’s Dan Martin is heading into the 2013 season full of optimism after a “faultless” winter training programme so far and in a stronger frame of mind than he’s ever been before.
Last season was something of a breakthrough season for the 25-year-old climber after he posted top 10 finishes in both Fleche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege while also faring very strongly in his maiden Tour de France.
This year, his build-up to the Ardennes Classics – races he sees as some of his biggest targets for 2013 – will include the Tour of the Mediterranean, Haut Var, and Tirreno-Adriatico and the Criterium International, amongst others.
“Winter has gone really well,” a relaxed Martin told stickybottle at his base in Girona.
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“The weather has been faultless here all winter. I’ve never missed a day’s training and I’ve been able to do what I want – above what I wanted to do actually because the weather has been so great.”
“I had a really good rest from the bike at the end of last season and just hung out here in Girona and I think I’ve benefited from such a hard season because I’ve definitely come on in terms of strength from last year. Obviously it’s hard to know exactly when you’re just riding around on your own but we’ll see when we get to camp next week.”
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Indeed, Martin will link up with some of the Garmin-SHARP team for a winter training block in Calpe while the remainder of the team race in Australia, and he said he’s looking at the Ardennes as his first major target. One of his highlights from last year were the cobbled Belgian classics because of the Irish support he got there.
“There were a lot of people supporting me there and I know it’s a cliché but they did push me on because I had a horrible day at Fleche (though he finished 6th). I felt really bad and that’s why I was so badly positioned going into the last climb. It’s such a hectic fight to get into the front for the last part of the climb, and I wanted to save as much energy as I could.”
“I just wanted to get to the top – that was my whole thinking, just get to the top as quick as possible. I wasn’t thinking about a result, I just tried to finish, and then it happened that I was one of the fastest up the last climb. So that gives me a lot of confidence for this year. I’ve never performed in Fleche or Liege before. I’d never ridden Amstel. I’d been in or around top 20 in Fleche and Liege but breaking through into that top 10 last year really proved to me and the team that they can believe in me and they can have confidence in me and I can have confidence in myself.”
“I went there as team leader, with Ryder (Hesjedal) as joint team-leader. It’s one thing being a guy that can potentially do well in a race and it’s different being a guy that has achieved a result there before and is looked at as a potential contender. I’ve seen that already in races like Lombardia; it’s a lot easier for me to be at the front of the race because I get respect from the riders and they think ‘yeah, he’s going to be there in the finish’ and hopefully that’ll make it easier for me in the Ardennes.”
Riders like Joaquim Rodriguez and Phillippe Gilbert have enjoyed stellar careers to date and Martin’s aggressive style is similar to theirs, but they don’t intimidate him.
“I don’t really look up to them. It’s just a case of; they’re competitors now. I see them as equals. Obviously they’ve had a bit more success than me but they’re older than me as well. I’ll be as strong as aggressive as they are in the future. I don’t look up to them or anything because I’m trying to beat them and I think it is very easy to become intimidated by guys like that if you see them as being better than you.
“I think last year proved that they’re not much better than me anyway, only a couple of seconds. And I’m getting stronger all the time. I really believe that I can be in the front in those races. I always believed I was good enough, but now I know. I know I am good enough. And after last year, I know there aren’t many people who can get up the Muur faster than me.”
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