Dan Martin displayed a sense of humour when Stickybottle asked the 28-year-old Irishman what his goals were for the upcoming Vuelta a Espana.

 Martin, who celebrated his birthday earlier this week said:

“I want to try and finish,” he says. “I keep falling off in these Grand Tours, so I hope to finish this one.”

“I don’t really know what to expect,” says the Garmin Sharp leader.

“I think I’m feeling better than I’ve ever done going into a Grand Tour. We’ve got a super strong team here and I’m really positive, but anything can go wrong in a three week race.”

Martin has suffered bad luck so far in 2014, crashing when it looked like he would win Liege-Bastogne-Liege in consecutive years, and crashing out during the team time trial in the Giro, starting in Ireland. But he has looked fantastic whenever he has been crash free. He rode to a strong second in Fleche Wallonne, 15th overall in the Tour of Austria, his first stage race since returning from his Giro crash and recently third overall at the Tour de l’Ain.

Martin belives that his crashes leave him fresher to target end of season goals like the Vuelta, World Champs and Tour of Lombardy.

“I’ve been held back a fair bit the last year or so, so I really hope that I can ride to my potential and test myself against a stellar field this year.

“I always try and ride for the GC and even though I will be taking it day by day, I’d like to really finish off with a good GC result for once.

“Last year I came close in the Tour. I was top 10 and got sick in the last few days so hopefully I can get to the finish in the top 10 this time, and who knows where I can get in that top 10."

“For now it’s really just a case of going into it and doing the best possible.”

Martin will need to survive another team time trial on the Vuelta’s opening day, and he just hopes all his teammates finish.

“I hope we get around safely,” says Martin.

“The course is a bit of a nightmare to be honest. The roads… I don’t know how slippery they are but you can basically see your face in them they’re so shiny."

“There’s something like 18 roundabouts and 2km of cobblestones on the course. It’s in the city centre so it’s very technical and not really a horsepower course."

“We’ll just be aiming to get around safely and not lose too much time and then we’ll get the race going on Sunday.”

“We haven’t really talked about it yet but obviously me and Ryder (Hesjedal) have been aiming for this since the Giro and we’re going to be the joint leaders, and Andrew (Talansky) is just behind."

“We don’t really know how he’s going after his crashes at the Tour and he’s almost a last minute addition to the team but it’s a super strong team. I think it’s the strongest team we’ve ever put into a Grand Tour.”

As mentioned earlier in the Tour de l’Ain, Martin seems to be piecing his form together at just the right time.

“Tour de l’Ain was really good. I was feeling better and better every day and that’s the way I was hoping to come into this race."

“Even between the Friday and the Saturday, I felt the form was getting better so it’s really exciting to be in that position, where my form seems to be improving rather than being in top form going into the race."

“Stage six is the first mountain top finish here so that’s the first crucial day for GC,” he said of next Thursday.

“Obviously the race can be lost on any day but I’m feeling better than I have done all year so that’s exciting.”