Martin has developed as a climber and joined the UAE team from Quick Step this season after spurning interest from Sky and BMC in order to be a team leader.
He is the nephew of the great Irish champion Stephen Roche who won the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and the world championships in 1987, and Martin, now 31, is going for a first Tour win after placing sixth last year.
“If you want to have the legs in the last week you need to take a few risks and let other people get ahead,” Martin explained at his team bus on Tuesday.
“I’m trying to avoid all the crashes (in the fight to keep in the front group), and it’s a calculated risk.”
“It’s a long race and I’ll need my team later in the race, so you won’t see me riding into the wind all day like some of the guys in the other teams,” he said.
“We want to get to the rest day with everybody safe and sound. I’m going to need the guys in the last week.”
“So to be only 40 seconds behind guys like (race favourites) Chris Froome and Richie Porte is actually better than I had expected.”
Martin said that stage six at Mûr-de-Bretagne “used to be the kind of stage I could win, but I’m no longer sure, as the years go by”.