Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin line out at Clasica San Sebastian tomorrow; both looking to capitalise on their Tour de France form.
Roche suffered a crash in the final days of the Tour but
he is a rider who thrives on hard racing to top of his shape.
He leads his Team Sunweb squad tomorrow and having
featured in the finale in the past, this is an event he would love a big result
in.
Dan Martin goes into the race with his UAE Team Emirates
squad, though it has pushed the chances of its emerging star Tadej Pogačar for
tomorrow in its pre-race publicity.
That aside, this is a race Martin is capable of winning
and having endured a poor Tour by his standards, he will be looking for a
result.
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He made veiled references to problems within the team during the Tour, citing those as the reason for his fall off in performance.
Dan Martin said he felt good but had a lack of power and
energy as the stages reached their conclusions. He further stated the team
needed to examine how it prepared the riders for the race.
Since then it has been suggested in TV reports in Norway
that new energy drinks were tested by the team during the Tour.
These reports stated some of the riders were gaining
1-2kgs at times during the Tour, possibly from the effects of the drinks on
their bodies in retaining too much water.
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Other reports emerged suggesting UAE Team Emirates had
been spotted calling to petrol stations to buy food on long transfers after
stages.
As well as Martin and Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates has
selected Rui Costa, Sebastian Molano, Jan Polanc, Aleksandr Riabushenko and Rory
Sutherland for tomorrow’s 227.3km race.
Roche’s manager for the race, Michiel Elijzen, said the team would try to set up the Irishman for
the final climb close to the finish tomorrow.
"The organisers
have changed the route for this year's race ever so slightly but the finish
climb is still, as always, the focal point,” he said.
“We are really
motivated to go for a good result here and have a strong configuration of
riders to go for it.
“We'll look to set
up Nicolas up for the tough finale who showed just how determined he is in the
Tour.
“We will also
bring neo-pro U23 world champion Marc (Hirschi), who is fresh from
altitude camp, into position as we continue his development at the
WorldTour level."
Also in the Team
Sunweb line-up for the race are: Jan Bakelants, Johannes Fröhlinger, Giro TT
winner Chad Haga, Florian Stork and Louis Vervaeke.
As well as Nicolas
Roche and Dan Martin, Eddie Dunbar is riding the race as part of a very strong
Team Ineos line-up.
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