DAN MARTIN HAS not been selected to ride this year’s Tour de France, it has been confirmed today. He has been told by Garmin-Cervelo team manager Jonathan Vaughters that he will have to wait at least one more year to make his début in the world’s biggest race.
The news will come as a disappointment to Martin who had shown good recent form by winning the Giro di Toscana one day race in Italy.
Although Martin has proven that he can compete with the best in the sport and win races, his reliability from day to day can be erratic, a fact which has been previously acknowledged by Vaughters. If Martin had been selected for the Tour it would have been as a mountain domestique for the more senior riders in the team. This is a role, which above all else, requires reliability. Perhaps it was this which ultimately swayed Vaughters’ decision.
Dan Martin will now look to take part in the Vuelta a Espana in September, as he did in 2009 where he finished 53rd.
As for the other Irish riders on World Tour teams, Philip Deignan has not been selected as part of the nine man Radio Shack squad. Irish champion Matt Brammeier’s HTC-Columbia team have yet to finalise their lineup but he is not expected to be named on the roster.
This means that for the third consecutive year, Nicolas Roche will be Ireland’s sole representative at the Tour de France.
Interestingly, IG Markets have launched a new cyclist ranking system today. The system which is designed to reward both moments of brilliance and months of consistency ranks Daniel Martin as the 14th best cyclist in the world. This is higher than any of his compatriots and higher than everybody else on his Garmin-Cervelo team apart from the sprinter Tyler Farrar.
All four of the Irish World Tour riders are due to take part in the national road race championships this Sunday in Monaghan. They will be joined by four An Post-Sean Kelly riders Sam Bennett, Mark Cassidy, Philip Lavery and Ronan McLaughlin. Brammeier is the defending champion and will be pushed hard over the 175km race as riders fight for the right to wear the Irish Champion’s jersey for the next 12 months.
