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Dan Martin looks shattered after a brilliant ride. But he quickly recovered, as this Belgian TV reporter found out.

Dan Martin Belgian TV interview at Tour de France

After an excellent finishing effort carried him to 2^nd place on today’s stage 5 of the Tour de France, Dan Martin is looking bullet proof.

There is a long way to go, of course, but on the two uphill finishes so far he has been 2^nd and 4^th.

Today he distanced all of the select group, including Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Richie Porte (BMC Racing), with a deadly kick for the finish line.

And he limited his losses really well on the opening stage TT on Saturday in Dusseldorf.

Anyone who has watched him closely down the years knows he is a contender for the Tour podium.

And that is especially so this year as his stage race form has been more consistent than ever.

• 7 factors to decide Dan Martin Tour de France destiny

But one of the TV journalists from Belgian channel Sporza obviously never received the memo, so to speak.

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And when he queried with Dan Martin whether his form suggested to him he may be good enough for the podium, the QuickStep man gave him a very short answer indeed.

He already knew that before the Tour started, he said. And then he walked off.

The interview - watch it by following this link - began with the reporter asking Dan Martin how he felt about his “fantastic” 2^nd place.

“I’m just gutted not to win again, you know? But we’re getting closer and it was a good performance,” he said, clearly referring also to his 3^rd place on stage 3.

“We were a bit unlucky Fabio (Aru) got a gap there and he was just super strong. We’ll keep trying... we’ve had a good Tour so far, we’re going to keep enjoying it.”

Martin said the Italian champion had picked a really good moment to attack.

“It was really hard when he attacked; he chose a really good moment. But I thought with the flat section that he might come back.

“But in the end we looked at each other, there was a bit of hesitation, and (it was) tactical.

"And he got a bigger gap. I thought I might be able to close him down on the finishing straight but it wasn’t to be.”

Then the reporter asked: Is this a performance for you to think ‘Okay, I might be good enough to podium in Paris’.

Martin replied “I knew that before the start” and the promptly walked off. You can watch the video by following this link.