Dan Martin had a fantastic season and is one of three Irish riders shortlisted in the Irish Independent's annual sporting honours.
By Gerard Cromwell
Three Irish cyclists have been nominated for the Irish Independent Sports Star of the Year awards due to be held in the Westbury Hotel, Dublin, on December 17th.
In a renaissance year for Irish cycling, Martyn Irvine, Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin have all been nominated for the prestigious awards with the winner to be decided by public vote.
Of the three, Irvine has had the most fascinating story; being crowned Ireland’s first track world champion for 117 years when he took the scratch race in Minsk in February, only for a broken femur in a horror crash at the Tour of Taiwan a couple of weeks later to call a halt to his season.
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Though many feared the affable Ards man would struggle to walk properly let alone race again this year, Irvine underwent intense physical therapy and clawed his way back into the saddle to return to the velodrome seven months later.
In his first major race back, he took a bronze medal in the six-event omnium at the European Track Championships and just a couple of weeks later claimed a rare gold medal for Ireland at the UCI World Cup in Manchester.
His rollercoaster season continued with a serious crash at the Gent Six-Day in Belgium last month but the resilient Irvine is determined to try and defend his world title in Colombia in February.
Nicolas Roche has long been the nearly man of Irish cycling, always in the moves but never quite pulling off that big victory.
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A move to a new team with a bit more support this season saw Roche end the year with a first ever Grand Tour stage win on stage two of the Vuelta a Espana in August.
A week later the Saxo-Tinkoff rider rode himself into the red jersey of race leader at the Vuelta to become the only the third Irishman in history, after Shay Elliott and Sean Kelly, to lead the Spanish tour.
Having worn every classification jersey to be had over the course of three week race, Roche rode aggressively to finish fifth overall in Madrid, the highest Irish finish in the Vuelta since Sean Kelly won the race in 1988.
Roche’s younger cousin Dan Martin has had another outstanding season, capped by becoming only the fifth Irish rider in history to win a stage of the Tour de France in July.
The Garmin Sharp leader also took a stage victory and the overall at the Tour of Catalunya en route a first Irish classic victory in over two decades when he won the prestigious Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April.
A brace of fourth place finishes at classics Fleche-Wallone and the Tour of Lombardy, eight overall at the Tour of Switzerland and a second place finish at the season ending Tour of Beijing saw Martin end 2013 ranked number six in the world.
That was despite having missed the chance to score more points when he crashed out in the opening week of the Vuelta and fell ill in the closing week of the Tour.
The Irish Independent Croke Park Hotel Sports Star of the Year will be voted on by the public, with voting forms available in the paper every day. Each voter is in with a chance of winning a weekend break in London complete with flights and there are two runners up weekends also available in the Croke Park hotel and the Lee Hotel.
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