Dan Martin confirmed for Israel Start-Up Nation's 2021 Tour de France squad
The Irishman joins Froome and Woods in the team after racing a strong Giro d'Italia
Dan Martin has been announced as the next man on the team for Israel Start-Up Nation at the 2021 Tour de France.
This will be Martin's second Grand Tour of the season after putting in a strong performance at the Giro d'Italia where he took a stage win and 10th overall.
The Irish rider will be a vital rider for the team's leader, Michael Woods, who comes into the Tour in fine form in the mountains with multiple top results. Four-time winner Chris Froome has already been announced as road captain for the squad.
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In a team press release, Martin said: "With the right balance of training and recovery, I think having done the Giro can be beneficial, rather than a disadvantage.
"Together with Paulo Saldanha from PowerWatts, I feel like we found that right balance very well.
“I took training a little bit easier after the Giro, and I have done more intensity over the last few bits of training. I feel recovered and ready to race,"
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It was all going very well for Martin at the Giro, he looked to have very solid form and was in the fight for the overall until the race reached the gravel roads of Tuscany when he lost a huge amount of time to Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and co. He managed a good race after that and got into the top 10 in the end as well as taking stage 17 up to Sega di Ala.
Martin, who has won a stage in all three Grand Tours, will be eyeing one particular stage where he has finished in first and second in the past, that is stage two on the Mûr de Bretagne.
"Racing my ninth Tour de France is something I was planning from the beginning of the season and I am happy that I am racing it, especially as it brings me back to the Mûr," Martin said.
However, Martin will come up against some of the best punchers on the planet with the likes of world champion, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and Grand Tour debutant Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), who are both searching for stage wins.
Two time Monument winner, Martin has taken two stage wins at the Tour; one in 2018 on the Mûr and another on a medium mountain stage to Bagnéres de Bigorre back in 2013, where now team-mate Chris Froome took his first Tour overall victory.
Martin joins a squad that includes four-time winner, Froome, who comes back to the race for the first time in two year's after his horrendous crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2019 where he broke multiple bones.
Along with Froome and Woods, Israel Start-Up Nation have also announced Israeli champion, Omer Goldstein who will be looking for breakaway opportunities. The rest of the team is not yet known but riders such as Sep Vanmarke, Daryl Impey, Patrick Bevin and Rudy Barbier and many more are available to make a well-rounded team.
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.