Dan Martin feels ready to challenge for gold after Tour de force

Ireland will be represented by just two riders in the men’s road race at the Olympic Games today — cousins Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche.

Martin arrived in the Brazilian capital last Sunday, just over a week after a career-best performance in the Tour de France where he finished ninth overall.

He followed that up with another top performance (12th) at the Clasica San Sebastien last weekend — Roche was ninth — and those displays have given hope they can challenge for a medal in the 236km showdown, which features 3,600m of climbing.