Irish rider Dan Martin thinks cycling isn’t quite the same as it used to be, according to a new report in The Guardian. The former pro, who retired in 2021, said the way the races go changed since he began cycling.
Martin, the nephew of Tour de France winner Stephen Roche, recently wrote a memoir about his cycling career. The Irishman turned pro in 2008, spending the majority of his career with Jonathan Vaughters’s Slipstream-Chipotle, now called EF Education First. Martin’s last years were on the Israel-Premier Tech formation.
Tadej Pogačar has been tweet-trolling Dan Martin for months and it’s the absolute best
In the interview, he said he’s noticed the changes in the pro peloton, and he’s glad he’s not starting his career now, as opposed to back in 2008.
“My sympathy lies with the guys who have to make more sacrifices than I ever did just to be in the peloton,” he said. “Just to be on the start line in the Tour you have to do altitude training camps, honed nutrition, you need to be super, super, skinny. You have to be doing what Team Sky did. But I got top 10 in the Tour de France, training out of my front door every day. Today that’s not possible.”
He went on to say there’s been a lot of changes when it comes to strategy, and he wishes that racing resembled what it was when he first started.
“It’s the freedom of expression as well. That freedom to attack. Racing is quite boring to watch now as nobody makes mistakes any more. Everything is so fine-tuned you don’t see guys having bad days. Everybody is nutritionally perfect, training is perfect, and it’s lacking that human element. Racing has become quite prescriptive.”
When asked who his favourite current rider was, he said it’s Tadej Pogačar.
“Even though people say it’s the best racing ever,” Martin said. “It’’s really down to Pogacar. He is the loose cannon who attacks whenever he feels like it, whereas the rest of the racing is so scripted and controlled.”
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