Dan Martin is recovering from contusions, abrasions and a sore neck after crashing at the Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday. Martin will race Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, a race he won in 2013, and he is hopeful that he will be in contention for the win.

The Irishman crashed after crossing wheels with Tiago Machado as the peloton approached the Mur de Huy for the first time. Although he initially returned to the pack, he ended up dropping out of the race.

“It’s a weird situation because physically I’m fine it’s just this whiplash thing that I’m going on,” he said at thepresentation on Saturday afternoon. “Maybe it will get better or maybe it will get worse during the race, I don’t know. I’m just happy to be at the start. I’ve trained so hard to be at this race and to maybe be missing it was… we kept positive the whole time and we’re here at the start.

“It’s just the way it goes, it happens. It was just pure bad luck on Wednesday, I was riding at the front of the race and I just got taken out. I’ve just got to make the most of it.

“I think the new course is great. It should make for a really open and exciting race because there is no real time between the climbs for a peloton to reassemble and chase so it should lead to a lot of attacks and breakaways. It will make the race harder, which is also good, but that’s in a perfect world where I’m feeling 100 per cent so we’ll see how it goes.”