Dan Martin Video Interview Part II: Grand Tour podium finish a realistic target
Irish pro on his mental approach, winning attitude and moreThirteenth overall in this year’s Vuelta a España and showing continuous improvement year on year as a professional, Daniel Martin believes that he has the potential to finish in the top three of one of cycling’s three week events. The Irish Garmin-Cervélo pro was speaking to VeloNation during a lengthy video interview recorded recently in the Dublin suburb of Dundrum, where his grandparents live and where Martin stays when he briefly returns to Ireland each year. He said that he believes it could take a couple more years before he is fully ready to really ride general classification, but that he believes a bright future could lie ahead. “I think the podium in a Grand Tour is definitely within reach, when you consider how it was on the climbs in the Vuelta this year, and how close the race is getting [...]
Dan Martin Video Interview Part I: Classic wins are possible in the future
Garmin-Cervélo’s Irish star steps up a level in 2011, big future aheadIreland’s Dan Martin has said that his runner-up slot in the Giro di Lombaria has convinced him that he has the ability to win a major one day race in the future, and that this has given him confidence looking ahead to next season and beyond. Earlier this month he led a chase group home eight seconds behind the solo winner Oliver Zaugg (Leopard Trek), winning the small sprint with the same burst of speed which earned him a stage win in the Vuelta a España plus the Giro della Toscana. He has gained a lot of motivation from that performance, although he also admits that he wishes things played out differently. “Obviously I think you can see by the pictures at the end that I was quite frustrated,” he told VeloNation in a 30 minute video interview recorded [...]
Nicolas Roche Video Interview: New autobiography, Beijing WorldTour victory and more
Irishman opens up in frank interview at end of 2011 season This season has been quite a mixed one for Nicolas Roche, with injuries and frustrations interrupting the momentum and progress he had built in previous years. Things however ended on a high note for the 27 year old Irishman, who took his first WorldTour victory on stage three of the Tour of Beijing, then experienced a very positive reaction to the publication of his autobiography Inside the Peloton; My Life as a Professional Cyclist. On the day last week that VeloNation met Roche in Dundrum, close to where his father and 1987 Tour de France winner Stephen Roche grew up, he had a very busy schedule. Apart from the 22 minute video interview this website shot with him, he had a number of radio and TV appearances and, as it turned out, an attendance at a reception where his [...]
Video: Brailsford convinced that Bradley Wiggins would have been on podium in Tour de France
Sky Procycling principal says conclusion based on analysis of race dataBasing his reasoning on the pattern of racing plus an assessment of the power outputs of the top finishers, Sky Procycling’s Team Principal Dave Brailsford has said that he has no doubt that Bradley Wiggins would have finished in the top three positions in the Tour de France. The Briton went into the race as one of the favourites, thanks to his overall win in the Critérium du Dauphiné, but crashed out in the opening week of the event. Brailsford insists that had he avoided the accidents which littered those first days, that an extremely big result could have been in store. “Having watched it, there is a tinge of disappointment because we all know what kind of shape Bradley was in,” he told VeloNation in a video interview filmed in Paris. “Having seen the race, I honest believe he [...]
Video: Stephens says it could take a couple of years for GreenEdge to have a top level GC contender
Preparations on course for first-ever Australian WorldTour teamGreenEdge directeur sportif Neil Stephens has said that preparations are going well for the team’s first season in the peloton, and that some good signatures are already in place. The Australian has however suggested that the squad may not have a top-level stage race name for at least a couple of seasons, needing to build and expand gradually. “It is going really good,” he told VeloNation in a video interview conducted in recent days at the Tour de France. “I think we are going to be a very competitive team, I think that we should be able to do well in the Classics, maybe in the sprints. I don’t think at this stage that we will have one of the big riders like an Andy Schleck or a Cadel Evans on the team…that might be a couple of years away. “We have got [...]
Video: Nicolas Roche relieved to get frustrating Tour de France finished
Clearly relieved to get the end of the Tour de France in Paris yesterday, Nicolas Roche will use the days ahead to recover in advance of next Saturday’s Clasica San Sebastian. The Irishman was below his usual form in the Tour, and told VeloNation yesterday that the final days of the race were tough ones for him. The Irishman went on the attack on last Thursday’s stage to the Galibier Serre Chevalier, the highest finish in Tour history, and was sitting third in the winning move until ten kilometres to go. The effects of that long break remained long after he crossed the finish line. “The last few days haven’t been as good as I expected,” he said in a video interview on the Place de la Concorde. “It has been very up and down. I played it all on the Galibier stage…all I had left was thrown in there. [...]