Dan the man: Vuelta and Tour de France stage winner, Dan Martin enjoys the welcome from the crowd on stage in Belfast last night (Photo: Toby Watson)
By Gerard Cromwell
Seconds after riding onto the team presentation podium to rapturous applause, Dan Martin was still reeling from the welcome received in Belfast.
“I’ve got goose bumps,” said the Garmin Sharp leader as he walked off the stage.
“That will stay with me for a long time to come. It was a really incredible welcome.”
Like the other two WorldTour pros, cousin Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan, Martin rarely gets the chance to race in Ireland and hasn’t raced here since the 2011 national road race championships where he finished second to Matt Brammeier.
“It’s surreal,” he admitted.
“To be getting on a plane to race in an English speaking country is strange but to come here to Ireland and get a welcome like that, it’s been incredible and I want to say thank you to everybody.”
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With his Garmin Sharp team ready to rock in tomorrow’s team time trial, Martin says he is feeling strong despite his recent crash in the finale of Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
“I feel better than I’ve done in weeks to be honest. I hit the floor pretty hard in Liege and it’s taken until now to actually start feeling physically right but we’re getting there.
"With hindsight, I don’t think it’s going to be a bad thing to have had an easy week before the Giro because the third week is so difficult.
"But we need to get through Ireland first before I start thinking about the third week. Let’s just hope it stays dry, that the weather is good and we can have a welcome like that all the time.”
Dan Martin looked relaxed and was absolutely loving welcome in Belfast, which put on a great show at the team presentation last night (Photo: Toby Watson)
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