DAN MARTIN WON the Giro di Toscana yesterday by winning a six-man sprint at the end of the 196km one day race.
He beat Mauro Santambrogio (BMC Racing) and Miguel Angel Rubiano (D’Angelo & Antenucci) into second and third respectively.
It is a race won in the past by Grand Tour winners Vincenzo Nibali, Francesco Moser and Fausto Coppi. The victory is the Irishman’s first of the season.
Martin is clearly coming into great form in time for the the Tour de France which gets underway on 2 July. However, because he rides for Garmin-Cervelo, one of the strongest teams in the sport, his place in the nine-man Tour squad is still not assured.
Prior to Martin’s victory yesterday, his team manager Jonathan Vaughters tweeted: “I am really stressed about making the (Tour de France) selection. There are 11 guys that deserve to go. I can only take nine. Someone will be upset.”
Vaughters followed that up yesterday in the wake of Martin’s victory with: “Congrats to Dan Martin today for winning in Toscana…. Making it all very hard for me.” This seems to confirm that Martin is one of the riders which Vaughters has yet to make a definitive decision on.
Vaughters has also said:
“One thing to remember: it’s not the best nine individual riders on paper that make up the best team of nine riders.”
This may well play against Martin and his chances for Tour selection. He has proven that he can win races and be a team leader in relatively minor races, by winning the Tour of Poland, Tre Valli Varesine and the Tour of Japan last year along with yesterday’s Giro di Toscana. So although he is a competent leader himself, he is somewhat unproven as a domestique in major races, which is the role he will be expected to play should he be picked for the Tour.
Many teams either focus on the general classification or on winning stages, however Garmin-Cervelo are strong enough to pick a team which will cater for both. Tyler Farrar and World Champion Thor Hushovd are both capable of challenging for stage wins in the bunch sprints and will require riders to provide a lead out train.
Christian Vande Velde and Ryder Hesjedal have both finished in the top 10 of the Tour before and will be seeking support in the mountains. This is the role in which Martin will be likely employed on the Tour team, as a sherpa in the Pyrenees and the Alps.
Tactics
Ultimately, Martin’s participation in the Tour hinges on how Vaughters decides to divide his personnel between chasing stage wins and a high general classification placing.
If he were to be picked, it would be Martin’s first participation in the Tour de France and he would become only the ninth Irish rider to take part. In 2009 he missed out on selection due to a knee injury and last year he rode the Giro d’Italia instead of the Tour.
Martin’s team manager Jonathan Vaughters is very active on twitter (@Vaughters). He is due to make his Tour selection decision in the next couple of days. Perhaps if we all badger him enough we can swing his decision in Dan’s favour?
Martin is due to race in the Irish National Championship road race in Monaghan this weekend where he will look to take back the jersey he last won in 2008.
