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Dan Martin Announces Retirement

  • Ron 

Dan Martin, riding for team Israel Start-Up Nation, will set aside his racing bike at the end of the 2021 season. His team
recently announced that the 35-year-old professional rider will end his 14-year-long career when the current season ends.

Over the years, Martin participated in two Olympic Games but not in this year’s event, leaving us without an impressive story from the Olympics in 2020. He did leave a serious mark on the sport, having finished in the top 10 of five Grand Tours, winning stages of the Tour de France in 2013 and 2018, and winning Stage 17 of this year’s Giro D’Italia. And now he decided to call it quits, retiring from professional cycling at the end of the season.

Incredible Results

“These past two seasons with ISN have been some of the most enjoyable moments of my cycling career,” he said in a statement published on the ISN’s official website. “Together, we have achieved some incredible results that even I didn’t realize were possible such as my 4th in the GC at the Vuelta in 2020.”

“ISN really became like my family these past two years and leaving this group of people made my decision even more difficult. We’ve lived some incredible moments together from my first experience of Israel during our camp in December 2019 to the victories we have achieved,” he said. “I am really grateful to team owners Sylvan Adams and Ron Baron for the opportunity to have been a part of this team and all the team sponsors for their support. A special thank you to all the team staff and riders whose great spirit made every moment together, even the tough times, special. I look forward to continuing the story in the next races and I wish the team the very best in the future.”

A Long Career

Born in Birmingham, UK, Martin absorbed cycling from his early childhood, being the son of former pro cyclist Neil Martin and Maria Martin, sister of 1987 Triple Crown winner Stephen Roche. He suffered from asthma in his early childhood but this couldn’t stop him from cycling. In 2004, he won Britain’s Under-18 road racing championship – but he decided to represent Ireland, his mother’s native land, since 2006.

He went pro in 2008, joining the Slipstream–Chipotle (now EF Education–Nippo) team. After a few victories, he rode his first Grand Tour a year later – 2009 Vuelta a España. He truly rose to prominence in 2011 when he won his first Grand Tour stage (also at Vuelta), finished second overall in the Tour of Poland, and reached second place in the season-ending Giro di Lombardia.

Martin is currently 124th in the UCI World Rankings with 433 points.

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