TdF: Catching up with Dan Martin
The Tour de France has already been a big success for Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) thanks to a spectacular win on stage nine in the Pyrenees that brought him into top-10. Although, Martin is in line for a top-10 finish in Paris, his main focus for the third-week of the Tour is to take another stage win and not focusing on the general classification.
Castelli caught up with Dan for a chat about the upcoming mountain stages and his preparation for the season.
“I’m taking a stage win over a top 10 in the GC.”
“I’m taking a stage win over a top 10 in the GC (general classification).” he said as the race enters the Alps. “The Alps are going to suit me a lot better. I’m strong when there are multiple climbing efforts during a single stage.”
Team Garmin-Sharp will be looking to race offensive in the Alps as they did when Martin won in the Pyrenees. “At the end of the day if I finish ninth in the Tour nobody is going to remember my season for this. I will always be remembered for my stage win.”
“If I finish ninth in the Tour nobody is going to remember my season for this.”
The 26-year-old Irishman, who won the oldest one-day classic race, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and the Tour of Catalunya this year, said he’s not willing to make extreme sacrifices for his sport. He refuses to train at altitude while some riders go way above sea level in their preparation.
For Martin, altitude training does not really work, ” I’m not going to go and stay in altitude for three weeks in isolation.” he said. “It’s just my personal opinion; it’s the way I live my life.” Martin don’t want to be too fussy, “If I feel like having a beer, I’ll have a beer, it’s not that I’m going to get drunk.”
” I’m not going to go and stay in altitude for three weeks in isolation.”
Martin prefers to stay close to home in Girona, Spain. “I’m so much more relaxed there.” he said. “The physical effect of the altitude is balanced out by how mental happy I am in my surroundings at home.”
The Irishman is also one of the key riders of the Garmin-Sharp team to give useful feedback to the Castelli Speed Research Unit to make better products. Dan has been reaping the aero benefits of the SanRemo SpeedSuit and Inferno bibshorts for two years, and there’s no denying, this is high-end performance clothing.
[youtube width=”645″ height=”430″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1gNBED6VGI[/youtube]
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