Mental strength is just as important as physical prowess to win on the Mûr-de-Bretagne, says Dan Martin, who won a Tour de France stage on the 'wall' in 2018.
The now retired Irishman has a history of performing on the 2km Breton climb; Martin finished second on the côte du Menez Hiez – better known as the côte de Mûr-de-Bretagne – in 2015, before he went on to win on a return visit three years later, then riding for the team now known as UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
Speaking to Cycling Weekly in Caen ahead of the stage five time trial, Martin reflected on his tactics that day, when he conquered the double-digit gradients.
"It’s a very similar style climb to the stage in Rouen," Martin explained. "It’s a real head game as, when you come round the corner and just see the wall in front of you, it looks way steeper than it actually is, and that can crack some guys."
Having been held off in 2015, Martin’s victory came after he launched a powerful out-of-the-saddle attack up the inside of the front group, which caught the likes of Alejandro Valverde, Adam Yates and Geraint Thomas by surprise. He went on to win by just one second.
"I just about managed to hang on to the big chain ring, and the bigger chain ring on the front means that the torque you’re putting through the bike makes it easier to push the pedals round and you can then clip down the gears more quickly in the flatter section on the top of the climb," Martin recalled.
"I know the fashion now is to sit down and create those huge power numbers and to create that torque and push the bigger gear, whereas when I won there, and when I came second in 2015 as well, I just used a similar kind of tactic on both occasions."
In this year's edition, Tadej Pogačar ceded the race lead to Mathieu van der Poel on stage six into Vire Normandie, won by Ben Healy, but Martin said that he thought the Slovenian could look to recapture the momentum he took out of the stage he won in Rouen on the Mur, purely to land another psychological blow on Jonas Vingegaard.
"It’s a really fine balance as a GC rider currently," Martin said. "Because you’ve got guys who are counting their counters, so to speak. Every bit of energy that they can save they are doing it currently in order to think about and consider the last half of the race.
"There’s that momentum and confidence that you get from getting a good stage result – that’s the flip side of it. But the time gaps are never going to be huge on the Mûr-de-Bretagne, it’s a matter of seconds played out at the finish line.
"That was always my view that being aggressive in the first few days, like Tadej did yesterday, gives you that momentum and confidence, but it also relaxes the team because they know he’s in good condition now."
Vingegaard suffered a significant loss in the Caen time trial where he shipped more than a minute to Pogačar. Despite now having a gap to bridge, Martin backed Vingegaard to bounce back, and said his performance on stage four in Rouen proved he had the capacity to get back into the race.
"On that type of finish in Rouen, I think we always expected Tadej to be stronger," Martin said. "I think he was, but the difference wasn’t that much. But I think the Rouen stage really showed how mentally strong Vingegaard is. I could see him maybe one gear up from Tadej, his cadence was maybe a little bit higher on the final climb.
"He was then almost praying that Tadej was going to slow down at some point and I thought you could see him starting to blow. He sat down but then a second or two later Tadej sat down too. That gave him that boost to think he’s only there, I can get there. I think having the mental strength to be able to stand again just shows how much he wants this."
