xfimpg

What if Tony Martin focused mainly on climbing, as Thor has done; would he be able to challenge in the mountains or just be a poor man's Jan Ullrich?

GrayJay

With almost 100km of TT in the 2012 TDF, I think that Martin should be considered a contender for GC. Martin is not so big and heavy that he cannot get over a hill, he actually had some very decent finishes durign first week of hilly stages in 2011 but then later cracked on some of the epic climbs. If Martin can build up several minutes lead over the climbers in the TTs, he could affort to concede some time on the epic climbs so long as he doesnt completely crack. Same goes for Peter Veilets.
Trouble will be that if Contador rides 2012 he can both climb and TT with the best.

DXchulo

I'd guess that his ceiling is Bradley Wiggins. He could get as skinny as Wiggins and beat the GC guys in TTs, but he still wouldn't be quite a good enough climber to win a grand tour. Is it worth giving up being the best TTer in the world for that? I don't think he's dominated the TTs long enough to be bored with it yet.

Not only that, but you have to wonder if the trend of increasing TT kms is going to last. 2013 will be the 100th TDF, so I'm sure they'll have tons of climbing there. They did make the Giro "easier," but it still favors the climbers and I don't think that will ever change.

chasm54

Martin has done very well on climbs. If I remember rightly he was a close second in a mountaintop finish in the 2009 TdF. He has time, I don't see any reason why he could not turn himself into as good a climber as Evans.
I'd see him more as a classics winners than a GC contender in a three-week GT, though.

Keith99

For now he has a long way to go. Over 1 1/2 hours back.

Comparer that to Mig who was only 12' 47' back in 1990 and then won in 91. That is the kind of change that is reasonable.

Martin might make the jump to 12-30 minutes back next year. Until someopne has made it to the 10-15 minutes back level they have not been tested when it comes to riding hard every day. There are far more riders who can put in several good days than there are riders who never have a really bad day in 3 weeks.

xfimpg

What kind of changes did Endurain make to improve?

ultraman6970

To eat a lot of spanish meat?

xfimpg

Shame on you. This thread was "clean".

chasm54

Yes, I agree with this. Of course, one has to bear in mind that Martin has been integral to the HTC lead-out train, as well as focussing on the ITT, so he could almost certainly have finished a lot closer if riding for himself. Still, , like I say I think the Classics or maybe Paris-Nice are more realistic.

ultraman6970

I made you looookkk....

bobbycorno

Dropped 9kg (20lb).

SP
Bend, OR

colombo357

2nd place on Mt Ventoux in 2009.

It's possible if he focuses his training on nothing other than the TDF. Not sure if he will though, because he would have to give up a lot of guaranteed ITT wins.

Maybe he'll try it later in life.