Tour de France KOM runner-up Egoi Martinez is focussed on once again shining in a Grand Tour this year, and he and his Euskaltel-Euskadi team have carefully structured his racing programme to ensure he hits peak form at the right time.
“Everything I have achieved in cycling has been in the three-week races,” he said. “I do not want to push [too hard] at first, but will to reach a good level as I did in the past two years.”
The 2003 Tour de l’Avenir winner has been training with his team-mate Gorka Verdugo in Benidorm. They have spent two weeks there, and he said that the conditions have been perfect.
"It is unbelievable that after a five-hour drive, we enjoy such a different climate,” he stated. “For me it is a luxury to train in Benidorm – we can go out without gloves or boots, and enjoy temperatures above 10 degrees.”
Martinez is now 31 years of age and being in the second part of his career, wants to achieve as much as possible in the seasons ahead. His past results include a stage win and the King of the Mountains classification in the Vuelta a España, ninth and twelfth overall in the race, plus the KOM classifications in Tirreno-Adriatico and the Vuelta al País Vasco.
He’s hoping that 2010 will see him reach a new level. Martinez will get his season underway on February 17th in the Volta al Algarve, and appears eager to return to competition.
“The first race is always nice. You have no pressure and it serves to let the body know that things are undereway,” he explained. “[After that], I will participate in Paris-Nice, with the idea of picking up good form for the [Vuelta al] País Vasco.”