Dan Martin discussion thread

[Inquitus]

Re: Re:

So sad for Dan. I think he has won the stage.

Aye he was my pick if it was a GC day, would have kept him in the mix for the overall win for now.

Yep, he'd probably be 2nd in the GC now.

Just so unlucky.
He's now 9th on GC despite of 2 crashes.

Still 6th on GC no?

 

[happytramp]

Re: Re:

So sad for Dan. I think he has won the stage.

Aye he was my pick if it was a GC day, would have kept him in the mix for the overall win for now.

Yep, he'd probably be 2nd in the GC now.

Just so unlucky.
He's now 9th on GC despite of 2 crashes.

Actually according to the official website he's in 5th at 1.44 down.... not too bad given how terrible the crash looked.

 

[movingtarget]

Great recovery by Martin. He's not out of it yet. With Majka, Porte, Contador, Quintana out of the picture. Martin can still aim for the podium.

 

[toolittle]

Re:

Great recovery by Martin. He's not out of it yet. With Majka, Porte, Contador, Quintana out of the picture. Martin can still aim for the podium.

Although his face and outlook are not so..., his performance and spirit...
A warrior.

 

[Benotti69]

Silly from Martin to take pot shots at ASO.

ASO are not in control of the weather nor road conditions.

I think if ASO wanted more of a crash fest they could easily find roads that would provide that.

Riding so fast down a descent and not allowing space and time to react to others means the inevitable.

If riders raced and trained in poorer conditions they may find their skills sets honed a bit better for poor weather.

 

[happytramp]

Re:

Silly from Martin to take pot shots at ASO.

ASO are not in control of the weather nor road conditions.

I think if ASO wanted more of a crash fest they could easily find roads that would provide that.

Riding so fast down a descent and not allowing space and time to react to others means the inevitable.

If riders raced and trained in poorer conditions they may find their skills sets honed a bit better for poor weather.

Even before the crash I was quite surprised they'd selected single lane roads in awful condition along a craggy rock face for a GC battle....

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re: Re:

Silly from Martin to take pot shots at ASO.

ASO are not in control of the weather nor road conditions.

I think if ASO wanted more of a crash fest they could easily find roads that would provide that.

Riding so fast down a descent and not allowing space and time to react to others means the inevitable.

If riders raced and trained in poorer conditions they may find their skills sets honed a bit better for poor weather.

Even before the crash I was quite surprised they'd selected single lane roads in awful condition along a craggy rock face for a GC battle....

I heard Bakelants saying that the first two descends were worse than the last one

 

[Benotti69]

Re: Re:

Silly from Martin to take pot shots at ASO.

ASO are not in control of the weather nor road conditions.

I think if ASO wanted more of a crash fest they could easily find roads that would provide that.

Riding so fast down a descent and not allowing space and time to react to others means the inevitable.

If riders raced and trained in poorer conditions they may find their skills sets honed a bit better for poor weather.

Even before the crash I was quite surprised they'd selected single lane roads in awful condition along a craggy rock face for a GC battle....

Roads look re tarmaced to me and if single lane roads why not give the rider in front some room.....

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Really sucks. We could have been looking at a scenario of DM only 15 secs down on Froome tonight. Feel so bad for him. I hope he can heal up and keep fighting.

 

[Leinster]

Re:

Silly from Martin to take pot shots at ASO.

ASO are not in control of the weather nor road conditions.

I think if ASO wanted more of a crash fest they could easily find roads that would provide that.

Riding so fast down a descent and not allowing space and time to react to others means the inevitable.

If riders raced and trained in poorer conditions they may find their skills sets honed a bit better for poor weather.

Yup. Not many GC riders will take the risk of descending close behind Richie Bloody Porte in the future. And Dan's bike handling would much better off if he lived in Caherciveen instead of Catalunya all year.

 

[Inquitus]

Re: Re:

Silly from Martin to take pot shots at ASO.

ASO are not in control of the weather nor road conditions.

I think if ASO wanted more of a crash fest they could easily find roads that would provide that.

Riding so fast down a descent and not allowing space and time to react to others means the inevitable.

If riders raced and trained in poorer conditions they may find their skills sets honed a bit better for poor weather.

Yup. Not many GC riders will take the risk of descending close behind Richie Bloody Porte in the future. And Dan's bike handling would much better off if he lived in Caherciveen instead of Catalunya all year.

He descended really well all day, even keeping up with the AG2R suicide run off the Colombier, just bad luck being on a tri athletes wheel in the end there.

 

[Benotti69]

Re: Re:

Silly from Martin to take pot shots at ASO.

ASO are not in control of the weather nor road conditions.

I think if ASO wanted more of a crash fest they could easily find roads that would provide that.

Riding so fast down a descent and not allowing space and time to react to others means the inevitable.

If riders raced and trained in poorer conditions they may find their skills sets honed a bit better for poor weather.

Yup. Not many GC riders will take the risk of descending close behind Richie Bloody Porte in the future. And Dan's bike handling would much better off if he lived in Caherciveen instead of Catalunya all year.

Maybe if more riders raced in bad conditions they would have less crashes as they would be more confident on bad weather descents, know to leave gaps etc......too many races cut short due to bad weather. Dont think anyone died on the famous Hampsten Giro snow stage. Riders would not do that now!!

ps, Martin lives in Andorra.

Also Martin talked about the wheel he got not working with his brakes and crashing again. Another thing the sport needs is more standardising of equipment so spares work or what is the point of the neutral service.

so much wrong in the sport. no one seems to care to make it better.

 

[yaco]

Would have won that stage as he has the best sprint.

 

[cocteau_ireland]

Re:

Great recovery by Martin. He's not out of it yet. With Majka, Porte, Contador, Quintana out of the picture. Martin can still aim for the podium.

Wouldn't that be incredible; an irishman on the podium. Yo!

 

[Leinster]

I thought it was all lining up for Martin today, until he sat down with 250m to go. From his post-stage interview it sounds like the crash is still affecting him, so to still finish ahead of Froome is seriously impressive. Hopefully he can keep it together and be fresh for the Alps.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

I thought it was all lining up for Martin today, until he sat down with 250m to go. From his post-stage interview it sounds like the crash is still affecting him, so to still finish ahead of Froome is seriously impressive. Hopefully he can keep it together and be fresh for the Alps.

He must have been very sore after his crash and he has done very well to stay in contention. I think he can recover for the third week. I expect the race will go all the way down to the TT to find the winner and decide the podium. The top six riders look pretty even at the moment but I think the longer climbs to come will make a difference and gaps will open.

 

[movingtarget]

Another gutsy ride by Dan Martin. And some time gained on GC.

 

[Leinster]

I couldn't believe how he was the only one willing to go to the front and just ride. Bardet, Uran and Aru just let Sky get a big leg up on them by cat-and-mousing and giving Landa an easy minute and a half back. Now they have to watch Sky double teaming in the Alps, instead of just watching Froome.

On the plus side, I was a bit fearful of how he would do on the big looooong climbs to come in the Alps, but after his ride today and a few more days recuperation I can see him hanging tough with the lead group. A high GC finish is still on the cards, but where is he going to find time to get onto the podium?

 

[DanielSong39]

Re:

A high GC finish is still on the cards, but where is he going to find time to get onto the podium?

Ambush. Next couple of stages provide great opportunities. Maybe he can strike a deal with BMC?

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

A high GC finish is still on the cards, but where is he going to find time to get onto the podium?

Ambush. Next couple of stages provide great opportunities. Maybe he can strike a deal with BMC?

Too obvious to suggest that he and his old Garmindale mates might team up with Uran and his old Etixx QS mates to get some time on one of these flattish/classicy stages coming up?

 

[DanielSong39]

Greg Van Avermaet figures to be a contender for the stage win in the next two stages so I think BMC will cooperate.

Everyone's tired from two days in the mountains so an ambush has a better chance.

 

[Leinster]

If Dan's feeling good on Sunday, that stage to Puy en Velay, with the rest day to follow, has his name all over it. Any other year, if he wasn't GC contending, I'd put him down as a top 5 choice for a stage win there. Bonus that it's not so hard that Brambilla, Stybar and Gilbert should all be well able to give him a big hand along the way.

 

[Leinster]

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/

 

[happytramp]

Re:

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/

That he's in that much pain makes his performances over the last couple of stages all the more impressive.

 

[BigShoes]

Very impressive ride today and tactially quite brilliant. I was seriously concerned today that his crash injuries would catch up to him and he would loose minutes.

It seems fairly obvious that the reason he took up the pace on the final climb was that his back pain from the crash has basically seriously dampened his ability to accelerate and climb out of the saddle, therefore his limited choice to avoid being dropped is to sit down and tap out the highest possible speed he can sustain. This reduced the chances of the other GC riders attacking in burst which, as did happen in the last 500 metres, isolating Dan as he is unable to respond. Another indication of his kick not being there was his inability to stay ahead of Yates at the finish.

This is a real shame for him as, for example, on saturday stage he should be normally a good bet for the stage win, getting bonus seconds and putting another dozen + seconds into his near rivals. The last 600 metres are seriously steep and with Sagan and Valverde gone there is only really Micheal Matthews and GVA who are likely to contest.

The short video of him at the end of the stage posted on stickybottle strongly suggest its going to be at least another few days before he gets back his lethal final kick, which in a TdF that is evolving to be so close would have been invaluable and would have ensured that we would be talking not so much whether he can sustain his performance but whether he can win the entire race.