Now enjoying the first months of his retirement from the pro peloton, Dan Martin has revealed he was dismissed by some pro teams when he was trying to secure a contract after his time at UAE Team Emirates.
He also said that by August of this year he had decided to retire, adding: "Racing on home roads at the Tour of Britain has always been special to me but just after announcing my retirement it was even more so."
Martin (35) moved to UAE Team Emirates for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He had spent the first eight years of his career with Garmin-Sharp in its various guises, now EF Education Nippo. In 2016 he moved to Quick-Step for two seasons and then onto UAE Team Emirates.
The 2018 season at UAE was successful for Martin as he won stage 5 of Critérium du Dauphiné and also claimed stage 6 at the Tour de France atop Mûr de Bretagne.
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However, the following season was to prove a winless one for Martin. His highlights during that 2019 campaign included 2nd overall at Itzulia Basque Country and 8th on GC at Critérium du Dauphiné.
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His Ardennes classics campaign was effectively wiped out with illness and he failed to register a finish during those races.
Martin's 2019 was also an unhappy one inside the team, with claims of very poor preparation at the Tour de France leading to nutritional problems that, it was claimed, caused the riders to gain weight during the Tour.
By mid 2019 Martin was making plans to find a new team. He says it was at that point - aged just 32 years - that some teams dismissed him.
"Despite a season most would be proud of, I had numerous teams tell me I was not the rider I used to be when it came to contract talks, too old and past it," he says writing a column in British magazine ProCycling.
He said that year had highlighted for him "how brutal the sport is", though he eventually agreed a deal with Israel Start-Up Nation. He went on to claim a stage victory and 3rd overall at La Vuelta last year and took a stage win at the Giro this year.
