Roche predicts nephew to deliver Tour de force

All British eyes will be on Team Sky’s Chris Froome at the Tour de France, but a Birmingham-born Irishman is capable of upsetting the odds, according to one former winner.

Dan Martin is expected to be confirmed in the Garmin-Sharp Tour team this week and is being backed by 1987 champion Stephen Roche for a successful three weeks in France.

There is a caveat to Roche’s comments: he is Martin’s uncle. But there is no doubt the 26-year-old is a prodigious talent, who earlier this year won the fabled one-day race Liege-Bastogne-Liege.