Second only to free Chipotle burrito cards - meet Dan Martin!

While there wasn’t much I had to say about the last stage, there is just about everything I could write about yesterday. Stage 9 consisted of five major climbs with the first starting as we crossed the KM 0 sign and the last finishing as we crossed the finish line. There were the countless attacks up the first climb of the day, the 20-person group Pat and I made at the bottom of the next category 1 climb, and the near crushing feeling we felt 8 km later when the yellow jersey was leaving a trail of flames as he road off the front more like a motorbike than a cyclist. There was the full chase by the team in second which, just like yesterday, kept us strung out single file up and over the next 14.5 km category 1 in the middle of the race, only to have two more grueling ascents to tackle. The list goes on. Amazing flying solos here, guys detonating there, leaving absolute carnage all over the hilly Portuguese terrain, and years taken off all our lives! As another Tour of Portugal comes to a finish with today’s final time trial, there is once again a mountain of material that would be more appropriate to tell in the form of a novel, not a blog entry.

There is one story, though, that amazed me the most. You have already been reading about it on the website, but without the behind-the-scenes view. Dan Martin. He is officially the next greatest thing to come to professional cycling. Well, a close second to free Chipotle burrito cards. You have seen him win one of France’s most prestigious races, the Route du Sud. He dominated the Irish national championships. Dan (above right) is packed full of natural talent and knows how to use it. But what you don’t see is the best part about him. At the end of the day, win or lose, he is going to tell you that you did a good job and he is going to raise your spirits. He may be one of the nicest people I have ever met and I will go as far as saying he is the nicest cyclist I know. Dan suffers more than anyone out there - day in and day out - and never complains about a thing. He once told me, “I’m the most positive person I know” and he wasn’t bragging. As a matter of fact, he was just being modest.

Since you’re not here in Portugal, you can’t really see what Dan (left) is doing. He is having a great race, but the results don’t do his performance justice. You probably don’t know much about the Tour of Portugal. But next to the Grand Tours, it’s one of the hardest races on European soil. The fact that he was able to catapult himself into the top ten yesterday on one of the hardest days in bike racing shows that this guy has what it takes to be a great champion. As if his sheer ability to race a bike or the fact that he wears one of the coolest kits in the peloton isn’t reason enough, please cheer for this guy because he is the essence of all that is great in a human being.

Maybe one day you will be lucky enough to have your legs shredded to bits by this guy, just so you can get that pat on the back afterwards. Cheers to Dan Martin for a fine performance here in Portugal! There is one more day to go and Dan is right where he belongs, in his element humbling others by showing them who is the best out there! The team is looking forward to today with our focus going into Dan’s overall and Steven’s amazing time trialing ability for a possible stage win.

Think fast thoughts for us. They will be greatly appreciated by all.