ANOTHER STRONG SHOWING FOR MARTIN

Irish road race champion Dan Martin finished 10th overall in the Tour of Portugal after riding strongly throughout what is considered to be one of the toughest races outside of the Grand Tours.

The Garmin-Chipotle climber kicked off proceedings with 24th position in the 6.4km prologue and rode consistently throughout the 10 stages to rise to ninth going into the final 31.2km time trial to Felgueiras.

The 22-year-old slipped one place and ended second in the young rider classification after losing over three minutes to stage winner Hector Guerra Garcia (Liberty Seguros).

David Blanco Rodiguez (Palmeiras) won the overall having taken the leaders jersey on stage nine and taken second on the final day.

Martin started in Portugal feeling under the weather after a stomach bug picked up during the Tour of Denmark but recovered well. The slightly-built climber is being carefully groomed by Garmin director sportif Johnathan Vaughters as a major tour prospect. Having won the Route du Sud in the Pyrenees in June, and showed his powers of recovery in Portugal, Martin is certainly moving in the right direction.

He gets the first chance to show off the national champion?s jersey on the roads of his adopted home country in the Tour of Ireland this week.

RELATED LINKS

Martin, Millar and Backstedt to ride Tour of Ireland

Martin takes solo triumph in Irish nationals

Dan Martin wins Route du Sud

Martin: How I took Route du Sud lead

Martin: A lot easier than I expected