Dan Martin has been forced out of Tirreno Adriatico on the eve of the Italian stage race due to health issues.
The Irishman was due to spearhead the Israel Start-Up
Nation challenge at the week-long race starting tomorrow along with team mate
Michael Woods.
However, both Martin and Woods have been forced out due
to illness. Canadian Woods has come down with a dose of bronchitis.
The exact health issue suffered by Martin, a stage winner
and 4th overall at La Vuelta last year, was not clear at the time of writing
but stickybottle will update when we have more.
Israel Start-Up Nation said it “had to replace two leading GC riders, Dan Martin and Mike Woods, because of some late developing health issues”.
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Instead of targeting the general classification and hilly
stages, the team will now target sprints and breakaways with Hugo Hofstetter, Davide
Cimolai, Alessandro De Marchi, Mads Würtz Schmidt, Guy Niv, Guillaume Boivin
and Jenthe Biermans.
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Missing the race is a major blow for Dan Martin as it
would have been an excellent opportunity for him to target some results and
build his early season form.
The 34-year-old has already ridden Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var (2.1) in France, where he enjoyed a solid start to the year and where Woods won a stage and held the yellow jersey for a day.
The health issues that have befallen both Martin and Woods follows bad luck last month in France when mechanical issues for Martin weakened Woods in his efforts to defend the yellow jersey on the final stage of the race.
He just came up short by a matter of seconds and had to settle for 2nd overall behind Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo), who just held off Woods and other chasers to take victory on the final stage and also take final yellow from the Canadian.
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