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Operación Puerto itself is mentioned once, in passing, Martin noting that the man whose shadow he seemed to become, Alejandro Valverde, had been “implicated in the Operation Puerto doping affair”. As an autobiography this saunters through Martin’s career and given plenty happened there’s a lot to cover.
He wasn’t the only one, of course, and the riders I loved to dislike came in all shapes and types – but somehow he grew on me and by the time he won Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2013 he had won me over. One of the local specialities is Espelette red peppers, which are aromatic, moderately hot, sometimes with a smoky taste. This book scores well on the day to day detail, Dan’s personal training approach of preparing to ride a race like La Doyenne as well as the appraisal of equipment choice and bike fitting when he moved to the UAE team. It’s a lyrical, romantic take on Martin’s life and his time at VC la Pomme (2005-2007), Garmin (2007-2015), Quick-Step (2016-2017), UAE (2018-2019) and Israel Start-up Nation (2020-2021). Things go from bad to worse, while outwardly their bid to make him a GC contender didn’t work, Martin reveals he was close to breaking his contract and ending his career.A racer caught riding in a van during a stage race isn’t named, the commissaires eject the rider and conspire to say the rider was ill. Overlaying that is a glimpse of the frankly mystical events that have foretold a victory or just the direction his career should take.
The book is packed with anecdotes to the point where some are almost mentioned in passing, his decision to change nationality gets less than page when it could be a bigger deal. Interesting and insightful on the interaction between personalities, strategies, and team functioning and their impact on the riders' careers. Dan Martin said no to British Cycling and even changed nationality to forge his own path, reinventing himself several times along the way to win two monuments and stages in all three grand tours. For a time they both lived in the club’s shared accommodation and Carrey got to know Martin, on and off the bike.
At the Auberge Basque the menu was magnificent, from the reduction of asparagus from the garden served as a starter (accompanied by a mousseline of asparagus, dried skipjack tuna and marjoram) to the savoury version of a Basque cake, with ewe’s milk cheese replacing the cream.
I think it’s fair to describe Dan as more of a classics rider, his favourite race being Liege-Bastogne-Liege (La Doyenne), notably fifth in 2012, winning the race in 2013 and second in 2017.In 2017, as the Tour de France approached the end of its first week, French journalist Pierre Carrey wrote an article for Libération, a panegyric in letter form hymning the praises of Dan Martin, Quick-Step’s Irish puncheur.
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