Dan sets off chain reaction

Dan Martin is still struggling to come to terms with the fact he is the 2013 Volta a Catalunya champion and only the second Irishman after Sean Kelly to win the race.

“Yeah it’s still quite hard to believe I’ve actually won it,” he beamed yesterday. “I was out training today and I’m actually being noticed here in Girona by complete strangers whereas that wouldn’t have been the case at all before.

“I keep looking at the trophy and picking it up and shaking my head. They kind of teased me all last week because when they gave me the leader’s jersey [on Thursday] they gave me the final trophy too and it was like, ‘ah come on!’… as if to say: ‘you might win this if you keep hold of that jersey’.