Oh the poor man, I hope he will recover quickly. He has a chance to podium this year.Leinster said:Seeing him interviewed after stage 12 yesterday, my wife looked at Dan's face and said "he looks like a 60 year old man!"
I'm not going to show her this clip of him after getting off his bike in Foix today; http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/video-dan-martin-crippled-back-pain-tour-stage-legend/
He could be on the podium, I doubt about leading the race. And if he was leading at some point, he would have absolutely no team to defend that lead. His only helper is Brambilla in the mountains. Sure, Gilbert, Stybar or Bauer will do as much as they can but as soon as the high mountains start they are dropped. So somewhere between 3 and 5 is the best he could do with this team even if healthy. Still a great Tour by Dan and I love his fighting spirityaco said:Some on this forum questioned Quick Step for supporting his GC aspirations. He could be leading the race except for the crash.
Reckon Quick Step is a good team for Martin. What I you need is two strong and reliable mountain domestics.happytramp said:I think he's too good not to be supported by his team at all... Podium in P-N, Dauphine, and what likely could have been a podium at the Tour.... I wonder should he look at moving to a team not so focused on classics and sprints?... Especially since they ready have allaphilipe and Gilbert on their books.
Aye, Martin will never be in the lead, he doesn't need a train, just two pure climbers . Hope they get it for him he deserves ityaco said:Reckon Quick Step is a good team for Martin. What I you need is two strong and reliable mountain domestics.happytramp said:I think he's too good not to be supported by his team at all... Podium in P-N, Dauphine, and what likely could have been a podium at the Tour.... I wonder should he look at moving to a team not so focused on classics and sprints?... Especially since they ready have allaphilipe and Gilbert on their books.
Without the crash he wouldn't have to go chasing these 10-12 second gain in the last 5 km of each stage, he could be sitting on in a comfy 2nd, 3rd spot right now biding his time and saving energy for the Izoard and Galibier stages. Those are the real challenges ahead of him now.StephenC2020 said:Without the crash I'm pretty sure he'd only be 20-30 seconds down on Froome and in with a great shot at a podium. I guess he still has an outside shot at the podium but still a shame.
Great to see such attacking spirit though. He's always attacking for 10 seconds here and there when everyone else just sits and waits. Might not be the wisest but great for entertainment value.
Dan Martin himself gave the best response: "It's all what if, you know. I might have been in yellow and then lost five minutes because everyone attacks the hell out of me. the situation is the situation, and we're always going to wonder, what if? But this is the hand we've been dealt. Maybe all these seconds I've been picking up, they would never have let me go".yaco said:Some on this forum questioned Quick Step for supporting his GC aspirations. He could be leading the race except for the crash.
Classy response. That'll gain him a few more fans - at least it should.Blanco said:Dan Martin himself gave the best response: "It's all what if, you know. I might have been in yellow and then lost five minutes because everyone attacks the hell out of me. the situation is the situation, and we're always going to wonder, what if? But this is the hand we've been dealt. Maybe all these seconds I've been picking up, they would never have let me go".yaco said:Some on this forum questioned Quick Step for supporting his GC aspirations. He could be leading the race except for the crash.
Don't think shouting will help. He might have a shot, though.happytramp said:In with a shout of most aggressive rider possibly?
In with a shout is also an acceptable idiomatic usage.RedheadDane said:Don't think shouting will help. He might have a shot, though.happytramp said:In with a shout of most aggressive rider possibly?
BMC had loads of guys who made the split today, and they don't have anyone to compete with him for GC leadership.AICA ribonucleotide said:What team do you think Martin should go to next year? Trek?
Except for the guy that took Dannyboy out on the descent from Mont du Chat?Leinster said:BMC had loads of guys who made the split today, and they don't have anyone to compete with him for GC leadership.AICA ribonucleotide said:What team do you think Martin should go to next year? Trek?
I can't tell if this post is sarcastic or serious.Leinster said:BMC had loads of guys who made the split today, and they don't have anyone to compete with him for GC leadership.AICA ribonucleotide said:What team do you think Martin should go to next year? Trek?