Ireland's Martyn Irvine endured an international scramble to get to the start of the Vuelta.
Martyn Irvine's epic effort to get to Vuelta start
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Martyn Irvine may not be in La Vuelta 2017 but that didn’t stop the Irish legend getting to the start yesterday.
He got to Nimes just about on time; motivated by team spirit and after an epic journey.
The track medal machine for Ireland has come out of retirement to ride on the road for Aqua Blue Sport.
A crash-hit season meant he wasn’t in the reckoning for Vuelta selection.
Like most bike riders when they’re not racing themselves, Irvine hadn’t planned on going to the start of the race to look on.
But at the last moment, and as the excitement built, he had a sudden change of heart.
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This former World Champ jumped on a plane to get here. #LV2017 @Martyn_Irvine pic.twitter.com/XjZ4KiffKS
— Aqua Blue Sport (@AquaBlueSport) August 19, 2017
He decided he had to witness a little piece of history and put himself under pressure to be there.
“I realised how significant it was that we had an Irish team at a Grand Tour,” he said of his change of heart on Friday.
“I booked Grace and myself on flights to Barcelona, which was the closet direct flight left.
“We were up at 4am for a 6am flight this morning (Saturday) and drove to the start in Nimes.
“The drive took us seven hours! The traffic was brutal; at a standstill at times.
“We got into the centre of Nimes with three minutes to spare. And we just caught the guys going down the start ramp.”
Irvine’s last minute dash to support his Aqua Blue Sport team mates speaks volumes of the spirit in the camp.
And hopefully that atmosphere can spur the Irish ProContinental team on over the next three weeks.
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