After a 2025 he'd prefer to forget, Grand Tour contender and stage racing specialist Dani Martínez had few chances to show his full potential last year, but the 30-year-old Colombian has said he's determined to set the record straight in 2026.
Even before the arrival of Remco Evenepoel in his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team this winter, in a squad already packed with GC stars like Primož Roglič, Florian Lipowitz, Jai Hindley and a fast-rising Giulio Pellizzari, following his disappointing 2025, to some fans Martínez was already in danger of disappearing from the radar.
But before starting his first stage race of 2026 at the Volta ao Algarve, and with a runner's up spot in the time trial at the Colombian National Championships and a ninth place in the Figueira Champions Classics already under his belt, the 2024 Giro d'Italia runner-up is itching to get back into the thick of the action. In an interview with El Tiempo, Martínez made no secret of his goal, either, to "move back up some places" in what he views as the team's unofficial hierarchy.
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"Gaining a spot [in the Grand Tours' will be complicated," Martínez said when asked if he was aware he'd dropped down what the newspaper called puestos – which translates roughly as 'positions on the ladder' – "but the goals of the team are clear."
"The big aim is the Tour de France, and we're all aiming in the same direction."
"It's the racing that puts everybody where they should be. The legs are what decide. I'm ready to regain puestos in the group."
Regarding the arrival of Evenepoel in the team – and speaking before the Belgian's setback in stage 3 of the UAE, he argued, "everybody knows who he is. He's shown his potential and he's been the star rider of the start of the season. It's clear he's here to win."
A former winner of the Volta ao Algarve back in 2023, as well as two stages of the same race in 2024, Martínez put his poor 2025 – in which he finished 53rd in the Giro and with seventh in Liège-Bastogne-Liège as his one stand-out result – mainly down to allergies and illnesses striking at the wrong time.
"I had a lot of health issues and I was sick so I decided to stop racing in August, recover well and look to the next season. These setbacks did not let me have a good year."
Confirming that he hopes to turn back the clock to his best Grand Tour season of 2024 when only a certain Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) could beat him in the Giro d'Italia – albeit by a massive margin, he still had the honour of being 'first of the mortals' in the final podium – Martínez insisted to El Tiempo that he had plenty of unfinished business in 2026.
The Colombian Nationals, too, left him "feeling good. Getting second in the time trial wasn't bad, given I hadn't raced for so long. We need more sponsorship in the country, though, because the country's got talented riders. If that happens, we can close the gap on European cycling."
As for Martínez doing that on a personal level, he'll be targeting Paris-Nice as an opportunity to showcase his stage racing talents both in and beyond the team.
"This is the year of my revenge," he stated categorically. "Last year was really tough, and I want to use 2026 to make up for lost time."
