The outstanding performance of the Colombian cyclist Daniel Martinez (Bora) in the Giro d’Italia 2024 It was brewed a long time ago and here are the main reasons why it was second behind Tadej Pogacar.
. “I feel immense joy, I have worked hard for this for many years. It was a dream since when I started riding the bike, it is without a doubt a very special day,” said the Colombian.
1. Regularity
Daniel Felipe Martínez was one of the riders in the Giro d’Italia group who maintained a constant during the week. In none of the stages did he see himself weaken, he was important when analyzing his true possibilities and spent energy where he had to, without exaggerating and saving for the end, for a third week that was hellish.
At no time did he see himself far from his rivals, much less having trouble. He maintained consistency throughout the competition and that led him to second place. Martínez was constant and knew how to assimilate the pain after the fall in the early stages and the cold.
2. The strategy
It was known before the race that beating Tadej Pogacar It is not impossible, but it is difficult. During the first stages the Slovenian rider grabbed the lead and did not let go again. Furthermore, he was unbeatable, he dominated in all areas. Seeing that, Martínez and his Bora technical directors came to the conclusion that they had to fight with Geraint Thomas, Ben O’Connor and Antonio Tiberi for the podium and they planned it.
The idea was to keep them at bay and at the ideal moment take advantage of their weaknesses. In this case, Thomas’ lack of strength in the final week, which made him lose second place to the Colombian.
3. Time trials
Colombian cycling has always suffered from the issue of time-consuming efforts, but with Martínez confidence is regained. The corridor of bora He fought two good stages, got key results. In the first 40 km he was eighth, he only lost one minute and 49 seconds to Pogacar, but beat Thomas by 11 seconds.
Daniel Martínez, Colombian cyclist.
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And in the second of 31 km, the Colombian was 13th and gave up 31 seconds, but in the general classification he was only 15 seconds behind, a good advantage for the Soachuno who had one of his allies on the clock.
4. Intelligence
That regularity and planning to know how to overcome bad moments served to recover time on Thomas and on matchday 16, which was shortened due to time, he saw that his great rival was not doing well and went in search of discounting the time and gaining seconds. copper the corridor Ineos.
At the end of the stage he was second overall and beating Thomas by 22 seconds, time to drive towards the end, which was done. He ran almost without equipment and had to deal alone in the hard climbs, he regulated himself and ran managing the differences, reading the moments of the stage well and making good decisions in difficult moments.
5. Cool head
Already with that difference, short, but ultimately difference, Daniel Martínez ran with his head, thinking about managing the income he had from Thomas. It was 22 seconds, but there was still no mountain and he was superior to Thomas. However, the idea was not to make more difference, but to preserve it, the one who had to attack was the Ineos cyclist, who had nothing to do with the wheel, because Martínez had more reserve in the tank to finish off his excellent Giro.
The experience and maturity that the years have given him brought them out and he did not despair at any time even though it was not a big difference. He had everything under control.
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