Dan Martin discussion thread

[Leinster]

Fat lot of good that did him today. As brave as those little gains he picked up have been, can't help thinking if he'd guarded his matches better he would've been with the MJ group yesterday and picking up a 6s bonus today instead of losing a minute and a half in 2 stages.

 

[yaco]

Trying to understand how he lost 31 seconds on the descent when he was with the yellow jersey group.

 

[Galic Ho]

Re: Re:

Gilbert was leader for Amstel Gold Race and then didn't race Fleche and Liege due to injury.

I think you are also over rating his attacking, he's only gained time on the flats when he hasn't been marked as much as the others. Has he even attacked on a climb yet?

Gilbert 2011 form...yeah, look at the mans pedigree and results WHEN he is on form.

He has been consistently second or third at Fleche and Liege...that's being a strong rider. That's class.

Over rating?

Dude, he tried. He tried his pants off on stage 17. If he didn't light the spark, I don't think anyone else would have bothered to have a dig once the elevation got high enough.

Dan has raced very similarly to last year, except this year, his endurance is stronger.

Remove the crash he had on stage 9 when Porte took him down and he'd arguably be very close to yellow. Very close.

Look at how he walk off the bike. He's the last rider you'd assume would take a crack...but he does.

It's his nature and desire to win that is great to watch.

Let's see them light it up tonight.

 

[Leinster]

Re:

Trying to understand how he lost 31 seconds on the descent when he was with the yellow jersey group.

Contador (5th wheel) let a gap open in the early hairpins down off the summit and that was that.

Disappointing thing is that Landa was able to bridge up after that, but no way would he have pushed across with Dan on his wheel.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Martin attacks but with him it is always 1 step forward with a lot of effort and 2 steps back after getting dropped. Quickstep is not doing justice to his riding by not assigning more riders to him

 

[Matteo.]

If only he had the legs of the best GT riders, what a great GT champion would be. Always at the attack even when he has few forces. admirable, bravissimo dan

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

If only he had the legs of the best GT riders, what a great GT champion would be. Always at the attack even when he has few forces. admirable, bravissimo dan

Without the fall I think he would have been in the podium battle. Even though he broke no bones, he had back issues and must have been badly bruised after falling at speed. Take out the crosswind stage and he looked good in the mountains for the majority of the time and you could argue he was more aggressive than Froome.

 

[RedheadDane]

Turns out he actually fractured two vertebrae in that crash.
No wonder he had a hard time walking properly...

 

[BigShoes]

Re:

Turns out he actually fractured two vertebrae in that crash.
No wonder he had a hard time walking properly...

Absolutely incredible. Hope it gets a decent rest and recovery and can return to race competitely for the autumn classics. Amazingly braze and tough rider to continue. But questions must be asked of the team not getting this diagnosed before they let him cycle another couple of thousands kms at the TdF. Perhaps there should be (maybe there is) a final call in races where a independent doctor can refuse a rider to ride, another example is fugsland who for now reason cycled another two stages with a broken wrist when he was clearly of no benefit to his team or his own race ambitions.

 

[staubsauger]

WTF!? He actually raced with that injury for *** 2 weeks!?

 

[Jspear]

What a beast. I've always liked the way he races....now I like him even more.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

WTF!? He actually raced with that injury for **** 2 weeks!?

Yeah... he did.
Pros... they're a bit crazy.

 

[sir fly]

Two fractured vertebrae for how many stages?
He's just qualified for decasyllabic.

 

[Norbea]

What a monster!

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Mother of God that's completely nuts

 

[Akuryo]

And he was still attacking in the third week again and again. That is just insane! Respct to DanTheMan.

 

[glassmoon]

Chapeau Dan for great effort.
Also, Uran sucks.

 

[wouterkaas]

Wow, that's incredible. He could even attack out of the saddles in the final week. 'Strong mind' is an understatement there

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Turns out he actually fractured two vertebrae in that crash.
No wonder he had a hard time walking properly...

Incredible. How do they do it ?

 

[happytramp]

So out of action for three weeks... that'd mean he'd be back in action, so to speak, the day before the Vuelta... interesting.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Really makes you wonder how far Dan Martin could have come without that injury. I think he would have been on the podium instead of Bardet to be honest

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

And he was still attacking in the third week again and again. That is just insane! Respct to DanTheMan.

Well, apparently he reasoning was that if he attacked then he got to decide the pace...

 

[Leinster]

Re:

Really makes you wonder how far Dan Martin could have come without that injury. I think he would have been on the podium instead of Bardet to be honest

Even if you assume a case of Porte sliding out and not taking him out, it would've been a very different race if he'd been with the leaders over the top of Chat.

If Porte hadn't crashed and stayed in the race, someone else with the legs and willingness to attack Froome, it would have been completely different again.

And I can't believe I just suggested the Tour would have been MORE exciting with Richie Porte in it.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Really makes you wonder how far Dan Martin could have come without that injury. I think he would have been on the podium instead of Bardet to be honest

I agree. He was probably stronger than Uran too, but might not have finished ahead of him anyway because Uran's obsessive wheelsucking is closer to an optimal way to ride than Martin's frenetic attacking. We will never know though. It's a pretty amazing accomplishment to come 6th after getting taken out and seriously injured so early n the race.

 

[movingtarget]

It was a shame that Majka, Valverde, Porte, Thomas and Fuglsang left the race. They may not have figured at the finish but I tend to think that Valverde and Porte would have at least changed the dynamics of the race not to mention a fully fit Dan Martin. The odds of Froome cracking in the mountains would have been much greater and also Landa's chances of finishing on the podium.