Dan Martin: The person whose bad day is the least bad will win the Tour de France
Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) endured a difficult weekend in the Pyrenees at the Tour de France, fading on the climb to the summit of the Tourmalet on Saturday and on the road to Prat d'Albis on Sunday after being in the breakaway. Despite now being 15th overall and 11:39 down on Julian Alaphilippe, the Irishman refused to throw in the towel on the rest day, seeing opportunities amongst the unpredictability of the battle for overall victory and in the high Alps of the third week.
"It hasn't gone as planned in the last few days but we're going to keep fighting all the way to Paris," Martin told Cyclingnews defiantly in his hotel in Nîmes after a morning ride.
"There's still a lot of opportunities out there for me. It's going to be a big finale, with three impossible stages and the climatic conditions are going to be added factor too. It's been a very difficult Tour and it's going to get more difficult."
Martin preferred to keep the cause of his problems to himself until the end of the Tour but he and the UAE Team Emirates staff have clearly been working on a solution.
"The condition is there, it's just about working out why we have this tailing off at the end of the stages. I'm not going to go into details but we have a few ideas and hope they'll work," he said.
"It's not due to lack of effort, my legs have just gone on me. Now I just want to get back feeling myself and get back push the limits again, all the way to the finish. We'll change our approach to the race and see what happens."
The person who's bad day is the least bad, will win the Tour de France
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