Dan Martin says he is looking forward to the mountains to come at the Tour de France, especially Mont Ventoux at the weekend.
By Brian Canty
Dan Martin has said after today's 12th stage of the Tour de France that he has been counting down the flatter days until the race gets to the mountains again.
"It was a hard day today, dreadful all day," he told stickybottle.
"Everyone wanted to be at the front because it’s the easiest and safest place to be. You just can’t relax with everyone wanting to be up there."
"And obviously because it was a tailwind, there was a break that got nine minutes and it’s always a fast chase back. You’re going through these little French villages and there’s lots of road furniture like traffic islands and it’s just a stressful day. But we got through it; another 220k in the legs and tomorrow is the last flat day before Paris."
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On the final run-in today, Martin said he stayed on the side of the road where all the GC riders were, with the sprinters and their teams hugging the left-hand side.
“Today’s crash definitely wasn’t caused by GC men," he said of the pile up towards the end.
"You could see the GC guys together on one side of the road and the sprinters fighting at the other side. But when it comes into the finishes and you’ve got two corners like that (90 degree bends) in the last 500 metres, there will be splits."
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"And it’s clear that the GC guys will be fighting to stay at the front, so you have to be at the right side of those splits to try and take advantage of rivals if they’re being lax. But I think it would be a good idea to maybe allow GC riders the same time as the front guys to avoid such traffic up front."
Of his form, the 26-year-old said he was a bit tired mentally after the time-trial yesterday.
The race heads for the high mountains at the weekend and that’s something he can’t wait for.
“It will be nice to get into roads where it’s just the legs doing the talking, instead of fighting for position all day."
Sunday’s summit finish to Mont Ventoux is set to see a major showdown with all the GC riders, and Martin admits he’s excited to test his legs there.
“It’s a race to Ventoux in the Tour de France. Obviously it’s a monument, it’s so huge, so historic. And I think it’s going to be a hot day so I think it’s going to be a fantastic day, such a long stage so hopefully the distance will suit me as well."
"It’s pretty close to the distance of Liege-Bastogne-Liege; with a pretty hard effort at the end of it and after two weeks of racing you really have to be on a super day to be able to win the stage. But I like climbing and Ventoux is an historic place so it’s going to be great.”
Of the Irish support so far, he said he's truly stunned and inspired by it.
"Today, there were flags everywhere, it’s incredible the number of Irish people coming out to the race and it’s fantastic to see these tricolours at the side of the road, in the middle of bloody nowhere it’s pretty crazy! I really can't thank these people enough!"
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