DAN MARTIN

ISRAEL START-UP NATION

I had a feeling this would be a strange Tour. One look at the route suggested that the first stages would be stressful and that the majority of decisive stages were packed into the final week. As it turned out, the fight for yellow was all but done by the first rest day. Crashes are inevitable on the narrow twisting Breton roads when you have 23 teams all being told to ‘be up front to avoid crashes.’ The majority of the crashes in that first week happened right up front, so I am interested to see if there is a change in tactics for next year by the teams who used up so much energy being up front and still ended up losing riders to injury. I steered clear of all the carnage that first week. I know what to expect and although sitting in near last position meant I was stuck behind many of the incidents, at least I wasn’t in them.

The Alpine stages were held in a cold deluge. I don’t perform well when my body gets cold and wet. But the Pyrenees have always been a happy hunting ground and extra motivation was added by a stage finish in Andorra. The final climb, the Beixalis, is one of my favourites with many of my friends on the climb. We then descended within 2km of my house although the covid bubble meant I didn’t see my family on the rest day. It was strange being so close to home, but not actually being home. How many people ever stay in a hotel five minutes from their home? Don’t answer that.

Dan does his best to enjoy his local stage, number 15 to Andorra

Illustration: David Despau. Images: Steele (top), De Waele/Getty Images.

I woke up with a slight head cold on the morning of the Col du Portet, but I felt okay on the bike and the Peyresourde went fine but I had nothing on the second climb, Val Louron-Azet. I looked after Mike Woods and rode to the finish as easy as possible, hoping to wake up feeling better. I didn’t. Had a splitting headache the first 50km then something curious happened. I followed an attack and suddenly felt much better. Adrenaline maybe. Then we hit the Tourmalet, a climb close to my heart. It’s a long grind but riders were getting dropped all around me and I felt good. The last time I climbed Luz Ardiden was with my dad in 2003 on a holiday. I was on the climb spectating about 2km up from the infamous moment Armstrong got collected by the bag. I’m not sure if those memories had an effect, but I gradually made my way towards the front of the leaders’ group, moving around any rival who showed weakness, the pace never feeling beyond my abilities until the group split in front of me. Perhaps with a bit more confidence I would have been right there with the best guys fighting for the stage but in the end I came home fifth, happy with how I felt. DM