Dan Martin (cyclist)


Daniel John Martin is an Irish professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam. Born and raised in England, Martin represents Ireland in competition through his Irish mother.
Since turning professional in 2008, Martin has participated in two Olympic Games, and won stages of the 2013 Tour de France and the 2018 Tour de France. Martin has also won a stage at the 2011 Vuelta a España, and winning the overall classification at the 2010 Tour de Pologne and the 2013 Volta a Catalunya. In one-day races, he won the 2010 Japan Cup, the 2010 Tre Valli Varesine, the 2011 Giro di Toscana, the 2013 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and the 2014 Giro di Lombardia.

Early life and amateur career

Martin was born on 20 August 1986 in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom. Martin is the son of Neil Martin, a former British professional cyclist, and Maria Martin from Ireland, the sister of 1987 Triple Crown winner, Stephen Roche, father of professional cyclist Nicolas Roche. He was born five weeks premature and suffered from asthma as a child. Martin grew up in Tamworth, Staffordshire, and was educated at St Francis of Assisi Catholic Technology College. Martin became the British under-18 national road race champion in 2004. However, in 2006, Martin decided to ride for Ireland. In 2005, he joined the French amateur team, and won the mountains classification in the Ronde de l'Isard.

Professional career

Slipstream–Chipotle (2008–15)

Early years

Martin turned professional in 2008 with. In 2008, he won the Route du Sud and the Irish National Road Race Championships. In 2009, Martin reached a UCI World Rankings of thirty-fifth, and rode his first Grand Tour, the 2009 Vuelta a España. In 2010, he won his first UCI ProTour stage race, the Tour of Poland. He finished forty-ninth in the 2010 UCI World Rankings ; Ireland placed seventeenth in the national rankings.

2011

2011 was Martin's break-out season. He won his first Grand Tour stage during the Vuelta a España, and became the first Irishman to hold the mountains classification; he wore the mountains jersey for stages ten and eleven. Martin won Stage 6 and finished second overall, behind Slovak Peter Sagan of, in the Tour of Poland. With a second place, behind 's Oliver Zaugg of Switzerland, in the season-ending Giro di Lombardia, Martin finished in ninth in the UCI World Rankings ; Ireland placed thirteenth in the national rankings.

2012

Whilst achieving no wins in 2012, Martin placed sixteenth in UCI World Ranking ; Ireland finished sixteenth in the national rankings.

2013

In March 2013, Martin won Stage 4 of the Volta a Catalunya; his fourth World Tour victory. Martin gained the leader's jersey the following day, and won overall classification four days later. In April, Martin finished fourth in La Flèche Wallonne; the following weekend, he won Liège–Bastogne–Liège, beating 's Joaquim Rodríguez of Spain. Martin's form continued at the Tour de Suisse where he placed eighth overall.
Martin, along with his teammates Andrew Talansky and Ryder Hesjedal, rode the Tour de France as co-captains. On Stage 8, finishing at Ax 3 Domaines, Talansky and Martin finished together, twelfth and thirtieth, respectively, to sit twelfth and thirteenth overall. The following day, Martin won Stage 9 in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, after escaping from the lead group with Dane Jakob Fuglsang on the final climb. He out sprinted Fuglsang in the final kilometre to win the stage. Martin moved up to eighth overall in the process. However, Martin fell ill in the final week, and following the final three mountain stages, slipped to thirty-third overall.
Martin completed the 2013 season with a fourth-place finish in the Giro di Lombardia, and a second-place finish in the Tour of Beijing. Martin finished sixth in the UCI World Rankings ; Ireland placed tenth in the national rankings.

2014

Martin finished second in La Flèche Wallonne, behind Spaniard Alejandro Valverde. Martin looked well positioned in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, sitting in second place, but in the final he crashed; Australian Simon Gerrans was victorious. Martin's primary focus was the Giro d'Italia, which started in Belfast. However, in the opening team time trial, Martin crashed, breaking his collarbone; he subsequently abandoned the race. He skipped the Tour de France to focus on the Vuelta a España; he placed seventh overall. In October, Martin won the Giro di Lombardia; he attacked in the final kilometre, and soloed to the finish, winning by one second. Martin won Stage 4, and placed second overall, behind 's Philippe Gilbert of Belgium, at the season-ending Tour of Beijing. Martin finished ninth in the UCI World Rankings ; Ireland placed fourteenth in the national rankings.

2015

In March, Martin came in tenth position at the Volta a Catalunya. He participated in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, but was caught in a pile-up and had to abandon all hopes of winning the race. He participated in the Tour de Romandie where he complained of chest pain, but only after the race was it found that he had two broken ribs, a result of his crash at Liège–Bastogne–Liège. On Stage 11 of the Tour de France, Martin rode across a three-minute gap on the Col d'Aspin to the breakaway, and then led over the top of the climb. However Rafał Majka, part of the breakaway, attacked the group on the Col du Tourmalet; Martin went over the climb in third place, and he rode with Emanuel Buchmann for a while before going solo to catch Majka. He passed Serge Pauwels but he could not quite get to Majka, but he did win the Combativity award for the stage.

Etixx–Quick-Step (2016–17)

2016

Martin joined on a two-year contract from 2016, with a focus on strengthening the team's squad for the Ardennes classics and competing as a contender in stage races. Martin enjoyed success in his first race with his new team, winning the second stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, his first win for over a year. He took another win against a strong field in the Volta a Catalunya, going on to finish third overall. He went on to Belgium to race in the Ardennes classics, where his best result was a third place at La Flèche Wallonne.

2017

Martin's first significant result of the season was a stage win at the Volta ao Algarve. In April, he placed second to Alejandro Valverde in both La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. In June, his late attack in the final stage lifted him to the podium, in third place, of the Critérium du Dauphiné, overtaking Chris Froome by a single second.
In the Tour de France, Martin was involved in a crash with Richie Porte in stage 9. In an interview at the end of the stage he said;
Despite back pain, finding it hard to walk and not being able to get out of his saddle at times, he went on to finish the race sixth in the general classification, only learning afterwards that he had fractured two vertebrae in the crash. The injury forced him to miss the Clásica de San Sebastián.

UAE Team Emirates (2018–19)

2018

In August 2017, Martin announced that he was joining, on a two-year contract, for the 2018 season. Martin had turned down an offer to ride for, as he would not be a team leader in Grand Tours. He had also received interest from,, and. He made his debut for at the Volta ao Algarve. Martin placed fourth on stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve, by losing out on a sprint finish to Michał Kwiatkowski; he went on to finish 14th overall.
At Paris–Nice, Martin abandoned the race due to bad weather conditions and illness on Stage 7, Martin had lost time on the previous stage due to a mechanical problem with his bike. At the Volta a Catalunya Martin fell behind on Stage 4 to La Molina, finishing 1 minute 29 seconds behind stage winner Alejandro Valverde, in 19th place. He took his first win of the season with a stage win at the Critérium du Dauphiné. On 12 July Martin won his second Tour de France stage, winning stage 6 at Mûr-de-Bretagne. He was named the most combative rider of the Tour de France.

Israel Start-Up Nation

In August 2019, it was announced that Martin would be joining the team, later renamed as, on a two-year contract.

Personal

Martin holds both British and Irish citizenship. Since turning professional, Martin resides in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. He is married to British distance runner Jess Martin.
In September 2018 their twin girls, Daisy and Ella Martin, were born.

Major results

;2004
;2005
;2006
;2007
;2008
;2009
;2010
;2011
;2012
;2013
;2014
;2015
;2016
;2017
;2018
;2019
;2020

General classification results timeline

Classics results timeline

—Did not compete
DNFDid not finish