It’s long been accepted that strong performances in Grand Tours require a combination of strong legs and a cool head; it’s necessary to have the fitness to ride with the best, and the tactical intelligence to know when to dig in and when to back off.
Metering out energy over three-week races is crucial. Going too deep, too often, wears away energy reserves and can lead to a disastrous off day or, worse, evaporation of form before the race finishes.
Dan Martin’s performance in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège Classic can give Irish supporters hope that an excellent Giro d’Italia campaign is in store. Martin has worked hard in recent months to be ready for the race and while he lacked a little sharpness compared to his winning performance last year, he still went close – agonisingly so – to taking a rare double.
The Garmin-Sharp rider attacked with one kilometre to go, accelerating away from the group of favourites and bridging across to the leader Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) just before the final corner. He was about to launch his sprint and to pull clear of a tiring Caruso when he crashed unexpectedly on that last bend.
Martin was initially very disappointed but, a few days later, had a adopted a remarkably philosophical attitude. This plus his tactical approach during the race highlight his mental strength and his ability to put things into perspective.
"What can I say? It happened. Some people are a bit surprised about how relaxed I am," he said. "In the last couple of days, they are asking me if I am not upset. There is no point in being upset, it happened and I can't change it. It is just really bad luck. I've had a lot of good luck in my career and this has just happened."
Chasing group
He said it's impossible to tell if he would have held off the chasing group, but many believe he would have. "I don't think there is any doubt that at the very least I could have been on the podium," he said. "But there are no ifs, there is no point in dwelling on it. I will just move on."
Twelve months earlier Martin became the first Irishman to take the race since Seán Kelly in 1984 and 1989. He said his sense of perspective about the 2014 result is partially due to what he achieved last year. “I am completely at peace with it. It is only a bike race, at the end of the day, even though it was an important one and an amazing one. I think I would be a lot more upset if I hadn’t won last year.
“At the same time, it could have been a lot worse. I could have broken my collarbone or whatever and been out of the Giro. At least now we can move on and we can look forward to bigger things.”
The Giro d’Italia is one of those “bigger things”, and begins this Friday. For the first time the race will begin outside mainland Europe, getting underway in Belfast with a team time trial. Two more stages will follow on this island; Saturday’s road race stage around the north Antrim coast and back to Belfast, plus Sunday’s race from Armagh to Dublin.
The Giro has been a major objective for Martin ever since he heard it was beginning on Irish soil. He’s ridden well in Grand Tours in the past, winning a stage and finishing 13th overall in 2011. He also took a stage in last year’s Tour de France, the first such Irish success since his uncle Stephen Roche in 1993.
Completing the set in the Giro is a big goal. “The form I have had in the past week or so is definitely suited to winning stages. I don’t know how my climbing is on long mountains this year as I haven’t done much of it, but as far as my punchy style is, it is definitely suited to win stages.
"To complete the hat-trick of Grand Tour stages so early in my career would be unbelievable. It is definitely an aim going into the race to do that. Afterwards the general classification would come with consistent stage finishes. Hopefully I can be there or thereabouts each day and the general classification will follow.
Win a stage
"Right now, the aim going into the race is definitely to win a stage. I did it before and I have no doubt that I can do it again this May."
Martin may be chasing those individual wins, but his Garmin-Sharp team will in theory be in the running for success on Friday’s opening stage. It has won major team time trials in the past and the riders know that they would have a chance to put Martin in the Maglia Rosa [pink jersey], the equivalent of the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.
However, he said his secondary goal of a high overall finish could cost them the early opportunity to lead overall.
“Because we are aiming for a strong general classification, we have got a very all round team, with some climbers to help me in the mountains,” he explained. “In contrast, I know that both the Quick Step and GreenEdge teams are solely aiming for the team time trial and will select specialists for that.
“To be honest, I am not too optimistic about winning the team time trial and wearing pink in Ireland. I think it is going to be very, very difficult. But you never know what is going to happen; there could be bad luck for others, good luck for us, or what not. We’ll see.”
The two other Irish riders in the race, his cousin Nicolas Roche and Donegal rider Philip Deignan, will ride for the Tinkoff Saxo and Sky teams respectively. These too have won team time trials in the past, but Martin feels they may end up in the same situation as Garmin-Sharp; leaving the flat-ground powerhouses at home in order to take climbers.
It’s a good strategy for the mountains and consequently he final overall result, but not so much for the chances of an Irish rider in pink early on. Still, Martin refuses to rule out their chances, repeating his statement about luck potentially playing a part in such efforts.
Whatever happens, he believes there will be a huge audience turnout and that the atmosphere will be dramatic.
“Even though it would be fantastic to wear the pink jersey in Ireland, I think the fact the race is just starting there should catch the public’s imagination. I think the whole country will be following me and Nicolas and Philip all the way to the finish,” he said.
“I don’t think it has really sunk in yet, that in a few days I am going to be racing a Grand Tour in Ireland. It is pretty crazy and I am excited to see the welcome. I am seeing stories about the high demand for team presentation tickets and the routes being lined with pink; it is going to be an incredible few days.
"I am pretty sure the majority of the pro peloton are going to be coming back to Ireland on holiday in the next few months. The county is going to put on a fantastic show and it will really be a superb advertisement for Ireland."
Racing brain
Back to tactics, and metering out effort. As mentioned, saving energy and then using it at the right time is a cornerstone of Grand Tour success. Martin said when he realised his recent weeks of hard training had blunted his sharpness in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, his racing brain took over. It's the same instinct which will be vital in chasing overall success in the Giro d'Italia.
“I didn’t have the same legs as last year. I was just conserving, conserving, just doing the minimum to be with the front group on each climb,” he explained, saying he drifted back deliberately on each hill to lessen the effort he had to make. “I am very proud of how I, and the team, rode.
“It was definitely a gamble not to respond to the attacks near the end. The reason for it was because I knew I had one chance to win the race. I wasn’t thinking about getting seventh or 10th or whatever; I was only thinking about winning. And the only way for me to win that race Sunday was to save everything for one attack on the final hill.”
Martin launched his move and got his gap, but was ultimately foiled by that freak crash. However the racing intelligence he is well known for almost won him the race.
As his uncle Stephen Roche often said during his career, races are won with the head and the legs. Martin certainly has the former, and hopes the latter is evident when the race hits the big mountains in Italy.
If so, he will be one of the top riders in the race, will be fighting for the overall honours, and the bad luck of Liège-Bastogne-Liège will be a forgotten thought.
Dan Martin’s Giro d’Italia diary will appear each day in
The Irish Times
.
