Daniel Martin all set to mark his debut at the Tour de France 2012
Daniel Martin of Team Garmin-Barracuda is getting in shape to make his debut appearance at the most prestigious cycling event of the season, the Tour de France.
The cyclist is enjoying a terrific form and is optimistic to bag stages at the coming race; he will also aim at the king of mountains classifications.
Martin achieved the fourth overall spot at the Tour of Catalunya 2012, fifth during the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and finished sixth at the La Fleche Wallonne 2012.
He achieved the 14th overall position at the Tour de Romandie and also bagged two stages at the contest.
The 25-year-currently holds the 14th overall position at the UCI Elite Men category with a total number of 132 UCI points to his credit.
Tom Boonen of Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step is leading the category with 366 points while Vincenzo Nibali, Samuel Sanchez, Peter Sagan and Bradley Wiggins achieved the second, the third, the fourth and the fifth positions in the respective order.
While commenting on his future plans, Martin told Cyclingnews, “If everything goes to plan I’ll be going to the Tour but last time I was selected for the Tour I got injured and couldn’t go”.
“I want to say I’m doing the Tour until I’m on the start line in Liege”.
“Everything is going to plan at the moment and I’ve had my best start to the year ever so it bodes well as far as my strength goes”.
“I’ll be going to the Dauphine with the idea of Tour preparation but in my mind I’m not going there to earn my place”.
Daniel briefed that he will ride the Tour mainly to support his team leader and it will not be a wise decision for him to go for the overall classifications.
The Irishman succeeded during the stage 9 of the Vuelta a Espana and occupied the 13th overall spot after the final general classifications.
He also managed to achieve the 4th overall position after the final mountain’s classifications of the race which was a real boost in his confidence.
Team Manager Jonathan Vaughters has noted that Martin is very much capable of dominating at the mountains category of the race.
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