After a year of retirement, Daniel Martin has published a book with the emblematic title: "Chasing the Panda"The reference is to the Liege of 2013, when the Irishman was chased by a fan masked as a Panda while he was on the run with “Purito” Rodriguez (opening photo).
“Seeing the word panda in the title of a cycling book,” he told The Guardian at the launch, “ if you don't know the story, it intrigues you and questions youThis captures the spirit of the book, which aims to be lighter than most autobiographies we're used to seeing. I wanted to draw a panda for the cover, but the publisher refused. He feared it would be mistaken for a children's book.I don't know who was under that costume. It always surprised me that no one ever contacted me».
Need of heaven
Martin was never a great biker, but he was a great attacker. He won the Liège, the Lombardia, stages at the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta. His uncle is Stephen Roche, father of his cousin Nicholas. His career was also a revenge against David Brailsford who didn't want him in the then Team Sky, when Dan told him that he had no intention of leaving the road for the track, as his peer Geraint Thomas and Wiggins before him.
«I needed heaven – he says – I wanted to feel the rain and the sun on my skin. I wanted to see the silhouettes of the trees.I've always run for fun. If I need to live like a monk to be a good cyclist, I don't want to do that.Maybe if I had gone to Tenerife and lived on Teide for three weeks before the Tour, every year I would have been a little better. Or I wouldn't still be in love with cycling».
A normal thing
The first hammer blow on the wedge that will open at the end of the journey a breach in the exhausting cycling of these times, but without pointing the fingerYou are free to play the game or you can accept to live it differently.
"My father, Neil," he explains, "was a professional cyclist. I saw my uncle Stephen carve turkeys more often than win races. So I was raised that being a rider is not superhuman, it's just normal.. Even though I was very young in 2005 and struggling to stay in the group, I knew that sooner or later I would end up at the Tour. Ever since I started running at 14, I was told I had something special. It wasn't easy to win a stage in 2013, Sky seemed impregnable. I also understood why I never wanted to be part of it. Because I loved the offensive style of racing above all."
Tactics and life
A matter of running style, but also of lifestyle. However, Whenever he spoke about his colleagues in the British squadron, he did so with great respect., while underlining the distance.
«I couldn't have become like them – he explains – anyway I think that Thomas he is one of the toughest men I have ever metThe sacrifice he made for six months before winning the Tour is incredible. I was physically gifted, but did I have the mental capacity to make that sacrifice? I don't know.. Geraint and also Froome went far beyond their physical capabilities, thanks to their ability to be incredibly focused."
Narrow margins
It can be done without, but since certain habits have invaded the group and have spread to all groups of riders, at a certain point Martin felt out of place.
«That's why I stopped running last year – he says – because sport was becoming too controlledI had lost the advantage of unpredictability, because now every rider is told exactly what the others are doing and the teams' methodologies adapt. I want to be able to decide why, when, and what kind of training I do, and what tactics I use. The cycling I love is also about freedom of expression. Now the races are rather boring to watch, because nobody makes mistakes anymore.Everyone's on top of their diet, their training is perfect, but the human element is missing. Racing has become predictable."
The Granon crisis
To the point that Pogacar's crisis on Granon It was the real highlight of the 2022 TourCredit to Vingegaard, but above all to Tadej who in some way… asked for it.
“People say that stage was the best race ever,” he explains, “but it’s equally thanks to Pogacar. He's the loose cannon that attacks whenever he feels like it, while the rest of the race is planned and controlled. Pogacar returns to the idea of romantic cycling, but at the same time he has the weight of the team. And the UAE Emirates He is already preparing for the future, even though Pogacar is only 24 years old. So the question of how long can it last? It's already on the table. Normally, one would say it has another 10 years ahead of it, but there are very strong young players arriving, ready to replace him at the first difficultyI've heard stories of sixteen-year-olds doing 30 hours of training a week. They are already working like hardened professionals».
Like Aru and Dumoulin
How long can you keep going like this? There's no hard and fast rule. Probably the less fragile characters risk giving in, others hold on and only time will tell if careers will be shorter.
«Dumoulin – he says – has continued to race in the last two years, but it wasn't the same. He essentially retired two years ago at the age of 29. Also Fabio Arau, an incredible talent, retired at 30These kids have made this enormous commitment and sacrifice. They were phenomenal young riders, but they were crushed. It's fine for those who are paid crazy sums in exchange for this life, like Pogacar. But the domestiques potentially earn less than they would have 10 years ago, in exchange for doubled sacrifices..
«I look at my photos as a new professional in 2008. I was 22, I looked 15. In modern cycling, would I have been given the time to develop? I was lucky that once upon a time it was possible to ride a bike on your own terms and with a smile on your face."
