Dan Martin

Cyclewizard

Did the cycle for life again this year, great day and brilliant cause. Dan waited and chatted, had photos with anyone and everyone at the end and must have been stood there for hours.after all the recent bad publicity around the sport and certain riders I just wanted to say what an absolute gentleman he was and really made the day for everyone involved. Not just a great cyclist but such a humble, down to earth guy.

Rua_ri

Cyclewizard wrote: »

Did the cycle for life again this year, great day and brilliant cause. Dan waited and chatted, had photos with anyone and everyone at the end and must have been stood there for hours.after all the recent bad publicity around the sport and certain riders I just wanted to say what an absolute gentleman he was and really made the day for everyone involved. Not just a great cyclist but such a humble, down to earth guy.

Totally agree with the above. I was genuinely impressed with him today. He had time for everyone. Gentleman is the word to describe him.

velo.2010

Fair play to him for doing that. Very approachable guy. I think many pros would be surrounded by an entourage in similar circumstances allowing only restricted access.

One thing though - he is very thin! If you didn't know he was a pro cyclist, you would say he was under nourished and offer him a decent meal. Incredible what these guys put themselves through for still relatively little compared to other professional athletes.

My first time at this event. Very atmospheric at the start/finish HQ. Familiar roads but a nice spin and well marshalled apart from a couple of junctions.

TheBlaaMan

There's a good interview with Dan on cyclingnews.com
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/video-dan-martin-reflects-on-a-season-of-highs-and-lows?ns_campaign=news&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=cyclingnews&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

Given his misfortunes during the year, the last 10 seconds of the video interview is funny!

godtabh

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

There's a good interview with Dan on cyclingnews.com
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/video-dan-martin-reflects-on-a-season-of-highs-and-lows?ns_campaign=news&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=cyclingnews&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

Given his misfortunes during the year, the last 10 seconds of the video interview is funny!

I posted this on the video thread. The crash at the end is priceless!

MPFG

So velonews saying Dan Martin going to ettix quickstep?

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/07/news/whos-going-where-trading-season-officially-opens-soon_379931

Pudsy33

MPFG wrote: »

So velonews saying Dan Martin going to ettix quickstep?

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/07/news/whos-going-where-trading-season-officially-opens-soon_379931

Good move? Better then sky which I've also heard rumours.

ROK ON

Not so sure this is a good move. Will he be a Domestique for Alaphilippe or Julian do it for Dan.
A strong team working for one leader is one thing (a la Sky in TDF) but a strong team of many leaders can be a poor outcome (Quickstep in spring classics).
Glad to see him out of Garmin - he has done very well there but i think he needs to move to get even better. But QS, let's see.

Pudsy33

You can definitely work for 2 leaders in a classic. Kwiatowski is on his way so there's room for another Ardennes man.

alanucc

At least he gets to wear some nice kit and ditch the gammy space helmet

Pudsy33

alanucc wrote: »

At least he gets to wear some nice kit and ditch the gammy space helmet

The Garmin TDF jersey is a thing of beauty

RobFowl

Pudsy33 wrote: »

The Garmin TDF jersey is a thing of beauty

The POC helmet certainly is not though !!

happytramp

Good move. Those guys know their business and they'll put him where he needs to be come the pointy end of the Ardennes days (His biggest weakness.... bar his over familiarity with the tarmac)

Lusk_Doyle

RobFowl wrote: »

The POC helmet certainly is not though !!

Pointed it out to the missus in all its horribleness during the tour. She thought it was ok. I think that she needs to be replaced.

irishrover99

Etixx seem to be the team were everyone is giving a chance to win unlike others were there is a plan A only so for me this is a good move.
Garmin never got Dan in the right positions at the end of stages/one day races and basically had to come from behind and do most of the work on his own which made him just miss out on more victories.

themandan6611

irishrover99 wrote: »

Garmin never got Dan in the right positions at the end of stages/one day races and basically had to come from behind and do most of the work on his own which made him just miss out on more victories.

he has some responsibility, Dan needs to get Dan into a good position - too often he is caught in a bad position and / or crashes, sometimes you know he is going to crash before it happens- it is not just being unlucky all the time

mhiggy09

Pudsy33 wrote: »

The Garmin TDF jersey is a thing of beauty

Haha as soon as I seen the Jersey the line "cycling is the new golf" came straight to mind.

TheBlaaMan

Dan confirmed to be moving on, having rejected a renewal offer from Cannondale Garmin. Interesting time ahead. Trek or Etixx mooted as his new team....

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/dan-martin-to-leave-cannondale-garmin-at-the-end-of-this-season/

CramCycle

RobFowl wrote: »

The POC helmet certainly is not though !!

I liked it, I may be the only one, ever, but I did like it.

Koobcam

Dan's first win for Ettixx . Is this in fact his first win since Lombardy in 2014? Anyway, great to see him winning again, some decent competition behind him as well.

REBELSAFC

Koobcam wrote: »

Dan's first win for Ettixx . Is this in fact his first win since Lombardy in 2014? Anyway, great to see him winning again, some decent competition behind him as well.

Seems like he timed his attack perfectly. Nice to see

ednwireland

final km
http://video.eurosport.co.uk/cycling/vuelta-a-valencia/2016/dan-martin-claims-stage-2-of-tour-of-valencia_vid415107/video.shtml

MPFGLB

Hope he does it today as well

But he certainly looks good at the moment...pretty strong looking

Today Aru , Jon Izzagire and SKY are main contenders but no reason why Dan can't get some GC time back and win stage

Very nice last climb to Xorret de Cati as seen here in the 2010 Vuelta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG1JE5sOymk