Stephen Roche is very upbeat about Dan Martin's and his own son Nicolas' chances in the Tour de France getting underway on Saturday
The only Irishman to win the Tour de France, Stephen Roche believes Dan Martin can win several stages in the 2013 edition which starts and Saturday and said his nephew could even win outright if he got a lucky break with the right escape.
“Dan is capable of anything... of winning the Tour; more than capable of winning one, two, three stages, maybe,” he said.
“Dan is one of those riders who you don’t want to give too much time to. He’s the kind of rider on his day who can rise to the occasion. If he gets in a lucky break and gets five, 10 minutes up, it would be very hard to get them back.”
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Roche believes Martin is the kind of rider who will seek out such a breakaway opportunity and probably believed deep down he was in with a chance of winning the three week tour.
“He isn’t the kind of guy who would say, ’The Tour’s not for me, it’s too big for me’. I know deep down he’s thinking, ’I can win this’.”
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“They will underestimate him a little bit, but at the same time, Dan’s the kind of guy that even if they do give him the recognition that he deserves, he can slip away. He’s the kind of guy where you don’t see him and he’s gone. He can hide very well and can make himself forgotten easily."
Roche added that Martin’s 13th place in the Vuelta two years ago – when he also won a stage from a breakaway that included Vincenzo Nibali and Bradley Wiggins – proved he was consistent even back then and had only got stronger. He believed he was a top 10 contender at minimum.
Of his own son Nicolas, Roche said while he would take on a support role this year, that did not mean he would have no chances of his own and he believed a stage win would be a great result.
“This year he’s riding for Contador, so it’s going to be more difficult for him to play his own personal card. He’s never ridden for a leader; he doesn’t know what it’s like to be a worker. Riding for Contador is a very good learning curve for him.”
“If Nicolas finishes 10th overall in the Tour this year, we’ll be saying, ’Deja vu, we’ve seen it before’. If Nicolas finishes 15th or 20th and wins a stage, we’ll be saying, ’Nicolas has improved’."
“His aim this year is he helps Contador win the Tour and a stage win for himself, and hopefully a top-15 for himself. But a top place overall is not important this year.”
