Dan Martin will make his first appearance this weekend since finishing in a remarkable sixth place at the Tour de France, in July. Shortly after the Tour finished, the Irish rider was diagnosed with two vertebrae fractures which required him to rest for a number of weeks.
The examination revealed two small transverse process fracture to the L2 and L3 vertebrae which he suffered when he crashed at high speed on stage nine of the Tour de France from Nantua to Chambéry. The accident happened when Richie Porte (BMC Racing) lost control of the bike on a corner and crashed hard, taking Martin with him.
“It’s always special to ride what is effectively a home race in the Tour of Britain,” said Martin. “Always so many fans, a great atmosphere and a testing course. I’m excited to get back to racing following the enforced break I had after the Tour de France. It will be a hard race, but we’re coming here with a strong team and I’m motivated to look after opportunities and get a good result.”
The Tour of Britain promises to be again one of the most spectacular and exciting stage races of the season, with the focus this year on the sprinters and rouleurs, who’ll have opportunities aplenty to shine. The race will roll out from Edinburgh for the first time in its history, visit Clacton a few days later for a 16km individual time trial and conclude in Cardiff, but not before the peloton will take on a weekend which contains nearly 5000 metres of ascent.
Alongside Martin on the Quick Step Floors team will be sprint prodigy Fernando Gaviria who returns to the race, two-years on from making a winning debut in the race, in Blyth, which will host a stage finish also at this edition. The event, which is set to start on Sunday, will be the Colombian’s first stage race in four months, and Gaviria is motivated to leave his mark on it.
“I’m really happy to be back at the Tour of Britain. I had the best experience there two years ago riding as a stagiaire for Quick-Step Floors and immediately winning a stage, so returning to Britain now and being part of this great team is a real honour. I like this race a lot, and for sure I will try to nab a stage victory here”, said the Giro d’Italia points classification winner.
After racing last weekend’s Bretagne Classic, Ronde van Vlaanderen and Amstel Gold Race champion Philippe Gilbert will now head to the United Kingdom for his Tour of Britain debut, where the Quick-Step Floors team will be rounded out by Laurens De Plus, Maximiliano Richeze and Czech Champion Zdenek Stybar.
Stages
03.09.17 Stage 1 Edinburgh – Kelso 190.1 km
04.09.17 Stage 2 Kielder Water & Forest Park – Blyth 211.7 km
05.09.17 Stage 3 Normanby Hall Country Park – Scunthorpe 176.9 km
06.09.17 Stage 4 Mansfield – Newark-on-Trent 164.7 km
07.09.17 Stage 5 Clacton – Clacton 16.2 km (ITT)
08.09.17 Stage 6 Newmarket – Aldeburgh 186.9 km
09.09.17 Stage 7 Hemel Hempstead – Cheltenham 185.1 km
10.09.17 Stage 8 Worcester – Cardiff 180.2 km
Another big name added. Not sure the route will have enough climbing to suit Dan but it’ll be good to see him mixing it up.