With two first cat ascents followed by the hors categorie climbs of the Port del Canto and the 1947 metre summit finish of Port Ainé, overall contender Dan Martin is clear that today’s third stage of the Volta a Catalunya is going to be both a very important day and also a grueling one.
“The stage is going to be incredibly hard,” he told VeloNation yesterday evening from the Garmin Barracuda team hotel. “I think it is going to be a really epic day. It is supposed to rain or snow. I just hope the course is not affected…it would be a pity if this race was not decided in the mountains where it is meant to be.
“I think weather is going to play a big part in the race. I’ll just have to wait and see how I feel.”
Martin has worked hard to get ready for a race he’s marked out as one of his big targets of the year. He’s motivated by his runner-up slots in 2009 and again last year, and also by the fact that it takes place in his adopted home region of Catalunya.
He showed strong form on yesterday’s second stage, clipping away going over the top of the day’s first category climb, the Alt dels Angels, then being joined by Damiano Cunego (Lampre ISD) and Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil DCM) on the descent. The trio worked well together over the following ten kilometres, but were hovered up one kilometre from the line.
The move didn’t work, but it showed his form. He said that it wasn’t a premeditated attack. “I know the roads and I thought that it would be best to be at the front on the descent, then got a gap,” he explained. “I didn’t really plan on doing that to the finish, it was more about staying out of trouble. But when the other two came across, we kept going…if there hadn’t been a headwind, we probably would have stayed away.”
Cautious about chances:
Martin is clearly in good shape, but also wary of making predictions. “I’ve trained really well leading up to this but because of my allergies at this time of the year, I can never really be sure how I will go,” he said.
In the past he’s shown inconsistency during the spring for that reason, and just wants to play things by ear.
“Some days I feel excellent, other days a bit run down. I got a couple of new inhalers and so far, so good,” he said. “I suppose the allergies are lessening now. It’s always been a frustration, but hopefully it will be more manageable now.”
The Irish climber took one of the best results of his early career when he finished second behind Alejandro Valverde in 2009, just fifteen seconds off the top spot of the podium. He didn’t compete there in 2010, but last year returned and took third, 35 seconds behind Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) and twelve off the time of Michele Scarponi (Lampre ISD). Contador has now been disqualified from all of his results of 2011, promoting Martin.
He’s been banging on the door for some time now, and this will sharpen his focus if the legs are there today. “It would be huge to win the race. I was second in the past and technically I was second last year as well, so that’s twice,” he said. “There is a very high class field compared to other years, though. People are seeing it as a prestigious race.”
The rivals – one gone, one uncertain, one a clear threat:
One rider who is no longer in the picture is Alejandro Valverde, who crashed yesterday, lost time when the Omega Pharma Quick Step team decided to take revenge on Movistar’s tactics in Paris-Nice, and didn’t start today.
That makes things a little easier for Martin, but he didn’t like how things played out. “It’s hard to say I’m happy about him losing time as it was pretty low tactics to get rid of him,” he said. “I hate to see someone ruled out like that. The guys attacked through a feed zone, then he crashed. It was not really nice to see it happen that way.
“As regards rivals, I think Levi [Leipheimer] is going to be the big one. He showed today that he is really good. We will know the answer tomorrow.”
There are also other big guns in the race, including Bradley Wiggins and Richie Porte (Sky Procycling), Jakob Fuglsang (RadioShack Nissan), Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol), and his own Garmin Barracuda team-mates Ryder Hesjedal and Tom Danielson.
Of course, Martin, Leipheimer and the others also need to overcome the advantage Michael Albasini (GreenEdge) has built up. The Swiss rider is one minute 32 seconds ahead of sixth-placed Martin and the other contenders, and will be very psyched after winning both the first and second stages.
He’s won races such as the Tour of Britain in the past, but isn’t regarded as a high mountain climber. Martin doesn’t take anything for granted, though.
“He was suffering a lot on the longer climbs,” he said. “But he’ll be motivated, and is usually really good in the cold weather as well. The stage shouldn’t really suit him, but we’ll have to wait and see. He’s such a classy rider as well.”