Seated on the Etixx-QuickStep team bus steps at the start of stage 1 of the Vuelta al País Vasco, Ireland’s Dan Martin did not speak - but pointed a hand skywards, towards the steadily falling rain in the town of Extebarria, when asked about his perspective on the race route.
Much of the pre-race predictions and debates about possible race scenarios in the six-day Basque race have been heavily focussed on the question of the rain,currently forecast to settle in across the Basque Country for the entire week.
Third eight days ago in the Volta a Catalunya, where he also won a stage and held the lead, Martin told Cyclingnews, “I was a bit sick at the end of Catalunya, I had a little bit of a cold and that dragged on into the start of last week. It’s always hard to recover from Catalunya, it’s such a tough race.”
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“But I’m looking forward to being here, I haven’t done this race in quite a while” - back in 2012, in fact, when he abandoned on stage 4. “But as I didn’t do Tirreno-Adriatico, this seemed to be a good moment to come back to this race.”
As a race, the Etixx-QuickStep rider defines the sharply hilly profile of Pais Vasco as tactical and said that It’s always up or down. "You never know when the break is going to go. I think people are keen and motivated, despite this weather so it could be interesting.
“The GC will start to be decided tomorrow [stage 2's tricky uphill finish] but it can be lost today [Monday]. It’s basically five one-day races, and then a time trial. That’s what makes it so hard and so stressful.”
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