First of all, Dan Martin has got a serious case of the jitters. Rumors abound that Cervelo are in the wind tunnel right now testing out a new model with stabilisers.
Manufactured out of high-grade iron, the expected weight addition will be a mere 3.4kg. When pushed on the rumour, Martin grumbled “Whatever.”
Well, he didn’t. But he probably would have, he’s that down in the dumps. I wish him a speedy recovery, but there’s little doubt that Martin got the shakes.
Top pros – and indeed half-decent amateurs – don’t crash on a straight going over a manhole cover, wet or not. Thanks to the wonders of HD television and a multitude of cameras covering every slice of the action these days, every little move is visible. In the slo-mo version you can clearly see Martin twitch his bars as he hits the metal.
That the teammates in front of him felt no need to either dodge the cover, nor point it out is telling, as it means they did not consider it a hazard. Yet hazardous it was for Ireland’s top rider, and the crash was truly disastrous for his whole team.
I have a feeling he’ll be at the back for Garmin’s next team time trial.
Secondly, sales of barbecues in Ireland are the lowest in the known world. I might have just made that up, England’s pretty low too, but you can see why there are so few multi-stage bike races in these parts.
The torrential rain and cold almost stole the show over these three days of the Irish Giro. But the ducks, I mean the crowds, still turned out in droves, hardy souls that they be. It’s all water off an Irishman’s back though… unless you’re Dan Martin.
Thirdly, Orica-GreedEDGE are just a lovely bunch of chaps. With their Canadian rider Svein Tuft having his 37th birthday on the opening day of the Giro, the whole team got together and decided that not only were they going to win the team time trial, but that they would push Tuft to the front as they crossed the line.
“They gave me the gift, it was a birthday present,” Tuft said afterwards. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a guy like me.” That brought a tear to the eye of many a bloke in attendance, though many blamed it on the raindrops.
Great performance by the Aussie outfit, who continue to make my earlier claim that they need more non-Aussies in the team look a tad over-eager. Still, they have no overall general classification contender, so whether they’ll get more from the race remains to be seen.
Fourthly, Marcel Kittel is something else eh? The first race day’s sprint was something, but it was the victory coming into Dublin that really stole the show, even from the rain.
His leadout disintegrated into the finale, with all those dangerous turns and narrow roads, and he looked to be right out of it with 300 metres to go. Where he got that final burst I don’t know, but it was majestic.
“When the sprint was launched with [Ben] Swift, I thought we were in a head to head and then I saw Kittel come past,” Elia Viviani said afterwards. “He came past at twice my speed. Like yesterday, in those last 150 metres, he’s intimidating. But we’re up there. Two sprints, two positions. We’ll try again in the next one, in Bari the day after tomorrow.”
That kind of finish, one of the craziest I’ve seen in a Grand Tour for some time, suited a smaller man much more than a big ‘un, which made Kittel’s effort all the more impressive.
Once over the line he was off the bike heaving for air, and you can be sure no one was more knackered than the German. That’s how much he wanted that win, a win that should have been beyond him.
Yet that’s how good bike riders become great ones, when they defy expectations. It was will, determination and sheer bloody-mindedness that carried him past Viviani and Swift. Look out Cav, there really is a new kid on the block.
Finally, a word on the other sprinters. I see the logic of using your lead-out train in the finales, because that is what everyone does, but is it possibly – sometimes – flawed logic?
It all looks very impressive when Cannondale or OGE hit the front, but the truth is that their men cannot beat Kittel straight up. So, why not ditch the train, let others do the work, and sit on Kittel’s wheel? It’s got to be worth a shot, at least once or twice.
And so on to Italy and, I’m sure everyone is hoping, to the sun.
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