Ireland’s Dan Martin has had a low key start to the season, riding his first two stage races clearly intent on slowly building his form for the bigger goals ahead.
At the weekend, the Garmin-Barracuda climber was a steady if unspectacular 14th on GC in the two-day Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var in southern France.
He was 27th on the opening 189.2km stage on Saturday, in a group just 15 seconds down on Romain Hardy (Bretagne-Schuller). The Frenchman triumphed when his two-man escape with Clément Koretzky (La Pomme Marseille) made it to the finish.
The second stage yesterday, Sunday, was a somewhat more challenging affair, taking the riders over a mountainous 205.4km between Fréjus and Fayence.
While Martin wasn’t targeting a big performance in what was after all one of the more low-key early season fixtures, he wasn’t very far off the head of affairs.
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The stage was won by the man of 2012 so far Jonathan Tiernan-Lock (Endura Racing), who climbed his way into the winner’s yellow jersey following his win last week at the Tour of the Med.
Martin was 13th on the stage, just 32 seconds down, and is clearly in nice condition for the bigger tasks in the weeks ahead.
A new convert to Twitter, Martin used his account to point out the lack of dope controls at the weekend, which he said was the same the previous week.
“No doping controls for the second race running….. what’s going on?”
For the record, he finished 51st on GC at the Tour of the Med, with stage placings in the four-day of: 104th, 23rd, 34th and 59th.
For Dan Martin on ‘the Twitter machine’: @DanMartin86
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Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var
Saturday February 18th
Stage 1: Draguignan - La Croix Valmer 189.2km
1 Romain Hardy (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller 4:47:10
2 Clément Koretzky (Fra) La Pomme Marseille
3 Jonathan Tiernan-Lock (GBr) Endura Racing 0:00:06
4 Jeremie Galland (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:00:11
5 Simon Clarke (Aus) Greenedge Cycling Team
6 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar
7 José Joaquín Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team
8 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's
9 Julien Simon (Fra) Saur - Sojasun
10 Russel Downing (GBr) Endura Racing same time
27 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin - Barracuda 15 seconds
Sunday February 19th
Stage 2: Fréjus - Fayence 205.4km
1 Jonathan Tiernan-Lock (GBr) Endura Racing 5:23:13
2 Julien El Fares (Fra) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 0:00:01
3 Julien Simon (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:00:04
4 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:00:11
5 Simon Clarke (Aus) Greenedge Cycling Team 0:00:13
6 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 0:00:19
7 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
8 Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Garmin - Barracuda
10 Romain Hardy (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller
13 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin - Barracuda 32 seconds
Final GC
1 Jonathan Tiernan-Lock (GBr) Endura Racing 10:10:29
2 Julien El Fares (Fra) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 0:00:06
3 Julien Simon (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:00:09
4 Romain Hardy (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller 0:00:13
5 Simon Clarke (Aus) Greenedge Cycling Team 0:00:18
6 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:00:20
7 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Garmin - Barracuda 0:00:24
8 Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:28
9 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
10 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
14 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin - Barracuda 0:00:41
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