Dan Martin finishes 13th to equal Ciarán Power’s 2004 placing

Dan Martin equalled Ireland’s best result in the men’s road race at an Olympic Games - set by Ciarán Power in Athens in 2004 - on Saturday when he finished 13th in an event he deemed the toughest of his career.

The hilly 237k course took over six hours to complete at the end of which Martin was almost three minutes behind winner Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium who edged Jakob Fuglslang (Denmark) and Rafal Majka (Poland) in a three-up sprint.

“It shows how far we have come, for a nation like Ireland to be coming in with two guys who can medal, and then be really disappointed with a 13th place finish out of 150.