Following a strong eighth overall in the Ronde de l’Isard, Daniel Martin has been selected for the VC La Pomme squad for the Giro d’Italia Dilettanti, or Baby Giro. The tough race starts tomorrow with an 8.5 kilometre prologue from Caserta to Belvedere di San Leucio, and then continues with nine road stages. The competitors will take in some serious climbs and, consequently, the race is seen as a strong predictor of talent amongst young riders. Past winners include Marco Pantani, Gilberto Simoni and Danilo Di Luca.
Martin, a nephew of Stephen Roche, previously competed with an English licence but declared for Ireland this season. He has been racing with the VC La Pomme squad in Marseille, showed his climbing ability in the recent Ronde de l’Izard (won by Philip Deignan in 2004) and thus securing his selection for the Italian Tour.
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| (L-R) Nicolas Roche (Cofidis) and his cousin Daniel Martin (VC La Pomme) |
Martin finished 47th on the opening day of the 2.2 ranked event and then placed 17th, 57th and 31st in the next three stages. He then moved up into the top ten overall with an excellent ride on the toughest stage of the race, the concluding 152.6 kilometre stage to Saint Girons, which saw the riders cross Tour de France climbs such as the Porte d’Aspet and the Col de la Core.
Martin placed sixth, 1 minute and 41 seconds behind winner Blaise Sonnery (Chambery Cyclisme Fo), and this moved him up into eighth overall. He ended the race 5 minutes and 30 seconds behind his team-mate Ignatas Konovalovas.
With the VC La Pomme riders first and eighth, the squad won the teams classification. Martin was 4th in the best young rider ranking, ninth in the King of the Mountains competition and 19th in the points standings.
After the end of the race, he and cousin Nicolas Roche headed to Barcelonette in France to train for a week in the big mountains there. Roche had ridden the Tour of Catalonia (May 15 – 21) but did not start the final stage due to illness, vomiting during the night after the penultimate day of racing. He was scheduled to do the Tour de Suisse (Tour of Switzerland) but, after training in the mountains, the team changed their schedule. He did a criterium in Callais on the 2nd of June and is currently competing in the 2.2 ranked GP Internacional CTT Correios in Portugal, a four day event which started today and runs until Sunday.
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Roche is also scheduled to do the ProTour team time trial in Eindhoven on June 18th. He and Martin are both expected to return for the Irish road race championships in Westport on June 25th.
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35° GIRO D' ITALIA "GIRO BABY"
Stage 1, June 9: Caserta – Belvedere di San Leucio (prologue) 8.5 km
Stage 2, June 10: Maddaloni - San Bartolomeo in Galdo. 134 km
Stage 3, June 11: Santa Elena Sannita - Castelpetroso, 119 km
Stage 4, June 12: Isernia - Celano, 165 km
Stage 5, June 13: Ovindoli - Ortezzano, 186 km
Stage 6, June 14: Morrovalle - Potenza Picena, 126 km
Stage 7, June 15: Montegrotto - Vittorio Veneto, 114 km
Stage 8, June 16: Vittorio Veneto - Marostica, 151 km
Stage 9, June 17: Marostica - Alpe di Pampeago, 121 km
Stage 10, June 18: Bolzano - Bolzano, 127 km
Total distance: 1,251.5 km.
114 starters
Ronde de l'Isard d'Ariège, France (2.2, May 18 – 21)
Stage 1 - May 18: Saint Girons – Pamiers:
1, Ignatas Konovalovas (VC la Pomme Marseille) 137 kilometres in 3 hours 8 mins 15 secs
2, Gianni Meersman (Beveren 2000 Quick Step) at 7 secs
3, Yann Huguet (AVC Aix en Provance)
4, Tony Huet (UC Chateauroux/Fen)
5, Tony Martin (German National Team)
6, Jelle Vanendert (Bodysol Lotto Vlaaderen) all same time
Irish:
47, Daniel Martin (VC la Pomme Marseille) at 54 secs
Stage 2 - May 19: Carla Bayle - Guzet Neige:
1, Jelle Vanendert (Bodysol Lotto Vlaaderen) 148.5 kilometres in 4 hours 11 mins 8 secs
2, Ben Hermans (Beveren 2000 Quick Step) at 2 secs
3, Julien El Fares (AVC Aix en Provance) at 7 secs
4, Loic Muhlemann (VC Mendrisio PL Vall) at 10 secs
5, Ignatas Konovalovas (VC la Pomme Marseille) at 11 secs
6, Blaise Sonnery (Chambery Cyclisme Fo) at 17 secs
Other:
17, Daniel Martin (VC la Pomme Marseille) at 2 mins 13 secs
Stage 3 - May 20: Castillon – Aurignac:
1, Mathieu Delaroziere (VC la Pomme Marseille) 91.3 kilometres in 2 hours 27 mins
2, Yann Huguet (AVC Aix en Provance)
3, Marco Giani (VC Mendrisio PL Vall)
4, Yannick Marie (Ent Sud Gascogne)
5, Gianni Meersman (Beveren 2000 Quick Step)
6, Tony Huet (UC Chateauroux/Fen)
Other :
57, Daniel Martin (VC la Pomme Marseille) same time
Stage 4 - May 20: Boussan – Boussan:
1, Dominique Cornu (Bodysol Lotto Vlaaderen) 22.3 kilometres in 29 mins 52 secs
2, Ignatas Konovalovas (VC la Pomme Marseille) at 3 secs
3, Tony Martin (German National Team) at 4 secs
4, Timothy Gudsell (Albi Vélo Sport) at 21 secs
5, Ben Hermans (Beveren 2000 Quick Step) at 30 secs
6, Jelle Vanendert (Bodysol Lotto Vlaaderen) at 55 secs
31, Daniel Martin (VC la Pomme Marseille) at 2 mins 25 secs
Stage 5 - May 21: Le Mas d‘ Azil - Saint Girons:
1, Blaise Sonnery (Chambery Cyclisme Fo) 152.6 kilometres in 3 hours 54 mins 20 secs
2, Julien El Fares (AVC Aix en Provance) at 1 min 12 secs
3, Pierre Rolland (Super Sport 35 ACNC) same time
4, Mathias Belka (German National Team) at 1 min 39 secs
5, Ignatas Konovalovas (VC la Pomme Marseille) same time
Other :
6, Daniel Martin (VC la Pomme Marseille) at 1 min 41 secs
Final general classification
1, Ignatas Konovalovas (VC la Pomme Marseille) 13 hours 45 mins 45 secs
2, Ben Hermans (Beveren 2000 Quick Step) at 37 secs
3, Blaise Sonnery (Chambery Cyclisme Fo) at 1 min 26 secs
4, Pierre Rolland (Super Sport 35 ACNC) at 2 mins 10 secs
5, Julien El Fares (AVC Aix en Provance) at 2 mins 43 secs
6, Mathias Belka (German National Team) at 4 mins 6 secs
Other:
8, Daniel Martin (VC la Pomme Marseille) at 5 mins 30 secs
Final points classification:
1, Ignatas Konovalovas (VC la Pomme Marseille) 69 pts
2, Jelle Vanendert (Bodysol Lotto Vlaaderen) 45
3, Ben Hermans (Beveren 2000 Quick Step) 44
Other:
19, Daniel Martin (VC la Pomme Marseille) 10
Final mountains classification
1, Blaise Sonnery (Chambery Cyclisme Fo) 30 pts
2, Ben Hermans (Beveren 2000 Quick Step) 27
3, Jelle Vanendert (Bodysol Lotto Vlaaderen) 20
Other:
9, Daniel Martin (VC la Pomme Marseille) 5
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Some images from the training camp, taken by Daniel Martin and Nicolas Roche.
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| (L-R) Nicolas Roche (Cofidis) and his cousin Daniel Martin (VC La Pomme) |
Irishcycling.com would like to thank Daniel and Nicolas for sending these photos to us.
