After winning a stage earlier in the Vuelta a España, Garmin-Cervélo rider Dan Martin is hoping to do something big on today’s toughest finish of the race. He suffered on yesterday’s final climb, placing sixteenth and dropping 52 seconds to race leader Bradley Wiggins, and said afterwards that he was no longer thinking about winning the stage to Angliru.
“I was targeting the stage to the Angliru after winning at La Covatilla, but now, survival is my only goal,” he said. “Today I had nothing left, but on the last climb, everyone was so tired, nobody could attack.”
However, speaking at the start line today, he had changed his approach somewhat and appeared to have got his confidence back. “I was angry yesterday at the top of La Farrapona, I was disappointed. I didn’t take time to eat properly, it’s my fault,” he said. “I’ll try to make it up today and win another stage.”
When he’s feeling good, Martin is strong on steep climbs and showed fine form earlier in the race when he triumphed on stage nine to La Covatilla. He’ll hope to feel at this best today, but is wary about another rider.
“I think the big favourite today is Igor Anton. He purposely rode in the grupetto yesterday to be good today. I want to ride all the mythical climbs. I did the Zoncolan this year and l’Alpe d’Huez when I was 14.”
Martin was non-committal about his goals prior to the start of the Vuelta. He said that he wanted to take a wait-and-see approach, although he did say that he’d be very happy with a top ten finish overall. He’s currently three minutes 12 seconds off the tenth place of Dani Moreno (Katusha) and so it will take a very considerable effort today and in the remaining stages to make up that time.
Still, whether or not he does that, he’s shown a clear improvement in this Vuelta when compared to his previous Grand Tours. He made his debut in the race two years ago and placed 53rd, with a best stage placing of fourteenth. He was then 57th in last year’s Giro.
Martin and his Garmin-Cervélo boss Jonathan Vaughters have both said that he is physically maturing more slowly than many of his fellow riders. If he reaches Madrid with a top 20 overall plus that stage win to his credit, there’s good reason to believe the 2010 Tour of Poland winner will continue developing into a successful Grand Tour rider. Even more so if he performs well on the feared climb of l’Angliru.