Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) put in an impressive performance at the Critérium du Dauphiné which finished at the weekend, and it has shown that his form is coming good in advance of one of his big targets of the year – the Tour de France – where he has stated previously that he will be aiming for stage wins and a good GC finish.
Martin had a number of good stage placings during the week including 6th on Stage 6 to Villard de Lans – Vercors and 7th on the final stage to Modane Valfréjus. He finished the race in 7th place overall. It shows that he has come back into form following a very difficult spring classics campaign, whereby he crashed out of both Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
The Irishman said on the team’s website “It’s been such a hard week. I’m really tired, but I know that everyone is in the same boat. The team really did incredible this week, every day, for Andrew and for me. When we needed to be in the front, the guys were there. Every team wanted to be on the front for the climbs, and we were the ones that did it.”
“I was building for an attack with three kilometers to go, moving up alongside the group. I tried to carry my momentum into the steepest part of the climb, but that’s when [Wout} Poels (Team Sky) accelerated, too. I couldn’t match it, and I ended up going back to the group.”
“I’m really happy with the gains I got out of such a hard race this week, and I’m looking forward to July.”
His Directeur Sportif, Andreas Klier, was also happy with the team’s performance, as he said:
“We saved our best team performance of the week for the final stage, and it was on from kilometer zero. The team did incredible work today as they did every day this week. Andrew (Talansky) had some problems with allergies today but he still fought all the way to the finish line and I respect that.”
“Dan tried attacking in the steepest part. He was nearly next to Froome, but that’s when Poels accelerated and then Froome attacked. It was a hard week, but I am very happy with the work from everyone – riders and staff.”
