UAE Team Emirates' Dan Martin may be 32 but still looking up the hill rather than down it

Despite finishing outside the top three places in the General Classification, he actually got to climb the podium in Paris after he won the Combativity award, given for aggressive riding.

He turned down an offer from Team Sky as well as rumoured interest from Bora-Hansgrohe, BMC Racing Team, Team Katusha-Alpecin and Trek-Segafredo to sign with UAE Team Emirates last year.

The Middle East team go into their third campaign on the UCI WorldTour amid a hum of excitement with the likes of rising Colombian sprint sensation Fernando Gaviria and climbing compatriot Sergio Henao joining a stellar cast, including Alexander Kristoff, Fabio Aru, Rui Costa, as well as Martin.

Martin’s Stage 6 win from Brest to Mur-de-Bretagne – an inaugural triumph for UAE Team Emirates at Le Tour – was followed by their second on the final leg, the iconic Stage 21 parade which turns into a sprint along the Champs-Elysees, claimed by Norwegian Kristoff.

And after a decent debut with his new team, Martin is predicting even better things to come for a squad impressively replenished in the off-season.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to start a season,” said Martin, who represented Ireland at both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.

“It’s a long, long season. And obviously the adaption to the new team took a lot out of me too. This year though I think you’ll see a very different team.

“All the mistakes we made at the start of the year that led to us not having the results we wanted, we’re learning and we’re making a huge step forward. I think the UAE is at the forefront of science and technology in the world and right now we’re bringing the team to that level.

“We’re going into this year with a lot stronger team as well as the scientific side behind the scenes, which will make a huge difference. So we’re excited.”

Even though he may wonder what might have been had he not crashed on Stage 8, Martin insists he looks forward to what can be achieved in 2019 rather than what could have been achieved last year.

“It (finishing eighth overall) doesn’t make me want to do better, it just gives me more belief we can podium and maybe even win the Tour,” added the man who began his professional career with Slipstream-Chipotle in 2008.

“I think a lot of teams have become complacent and maybe this team was at the start of the year. But now, this year, we’re going to be one of the best teams in the world. Hopefully it’s sure to lead to improved results.”

A year for a professional cyclist is a long and grueling one. Riders typically have less than a month off as an off-season. When the WorldTour begins for Martin, UAE Team Emirates and the rest of cycling’s top tier on Tuesday with the Tour Down Under in Australia, it concludes with the Tour of Guangxi on October 20.

Even Martin’s off-season couldn’t have been that relaxing. He and wife Jess – a long-distance runner who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics for Britain – welcomed twin daughters Daisy and Ella into the world on September 19 – “so it won’t be much of a holiday”, Martin admitted to Sport360 while in the UAE towards the tail end of 2018 at a winter training camp, which involved visiting various UAE schools.

“It’s a very exciting period in our lives and it will inspire me even more this year,” he added.

Martin himself was born five weeks prematurely and suffered from asthma as a child, so some would say he was destined for a life at the pinnacle of a sport that is one of the most demanding on the body.

It seems even more inevitable given he was also born into a family of thoroughbreds among the sport. His father Neil is a former pro who was a member of the Great Britain team at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.

Meanwhile, his uncle, Stephen Roche, was crowned Tour de France and Giro d’Italia champion in 1987 and is one of only two cyclists, alongside the legendary Eddy Merckx, to win cycling’s Triple Crown – Le Tour, Giro and the World Road Race Championships – in the same year.

Roche’s son Nicholas – Martin’s cousin – is also a pro, acting as a domestique for Tom Dumoulin at Team Sunweb in 2019.

But even though he was around the sport and one of its giants from an early age, Martin insists he simply caught the bug, rather than any expectation to tow the family line.

“I was exposed to it from an early age. It was on television all over the house and watching my dad go out to race every day, but there was also no pressure to take it up. It was only enjoyment,” insists Martin.

“A lot of people put professional cyclists on a pedestal, but to me it was just normal to ride in or even win the Tour de France. Being a professional cyclist was never something that was unachievable.

“I hope that’s something these kids draw from, we’re just normal guys. We’re not anything special. OK, we’re good at riding bikes but it comes from training, hard work and riding from an early age.

“It does make it a lot easier when you grow up around it and surrounded by people who understand cycling. But it’s a lot easier if you enjoy it and create that passion from an early age. That obviously translates into success later down the line.”

As for emulating the achievements of uncle Steve and finishing his career with a yellow jersey to his name, Martin admits it would be nice, but he’s also proud of what he’s already achieved.

“I don’t have much contact with him to be honest. But he’s incredibly proud,” Martin said of his famous uncle.

“What we did in the Tour this year, I’m incredibly proud of. Obviously we could have done things smarter, but winning a stage was fantastic.

“It was a relief too because we didn’t have a great start to the year but the Tour is where it’s at and the Tour is maybe what will inspire some of these kids to take up cycling.”