CYCLING:ALTHOUGH THE sport's biggest race is over six months away, Irish pro Dan Martin is structuring his season around two aims – the hillier spring Classics and the possibility of riding his first Tour de France.
The 25-year-old underlined his ability with a superb 2011 season which saw him end the year ninth in the world rankings. He won the Giro della Toscana and grabbed a stage of the Vuelta a España, took 13th overall in the latter, was second in the Giro di Lombardia Classic and the Tour of Poland, and third in the Volta a Catalunya.
His Vuelta ride was key to his Tour aspirations. Not selected by his Garmin-Cervélo team last July due to uncertainty on how he would last over three weeks, the consistency he showed in Spain underlined that he now has the strength and recovery to fight for the overall in such races.
“I really want to concentrate on the Ardennes Classics, but the other aim is to ride my first Tour de France,” he told The Irish Times yesterday. “I have shown that I can perform over three weeks; that is why I went to the Vuelta . . . I wanted to prove that.”
Meanwhile, young rider Philip Lavery has signed a contract with the new British Node4 Girodana squad. The 21-year-old competed this year with the An Post Grant Thornton M Donnelly Sean Kelly team but decided to head elsewhere for the upcoming season.
“I felt that An Post was not the right team for me,” he said, explaining he didn’t feel fully at home there. He also gave another reason for the move. “The kind of race programme like the [An Post] Rás, Tour of Britain, Tour of Norway and stage races in France, Spain and Portugal suits me more than a lot of the Belgian races.
“There are also the Premiers [Premier Calendar events] and I will be released to ride the midweek Nation’s Cup under-23 races for Ireland. At the start I plan to remain in Dublin but will move across during the season.”
Node4 Girodana is being set up out of the previous Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta team, run by the experienced Briton Phil Griffiths.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Saturday: Road commission AGM, starts noon in Bewley’s Hotel, Newlands Cross.
