Dutchman Martijn Maaskant, the first reserve for Team Garmin-Slipstream’s 2009 Tour de France squad, will replace former Irish national champion Dan Martin on the start line on Saturday. Martin is suffering from knee tendonitis. Multiple team medical staff members have been working closely with Martin to resolve the issue and today team officials made the decision to replace him with Maaskant.

“These decisions are always hard,” said director Matt White. “The medical staff has done an outstanding job working with Dan but for his health and the benefit of the team, we have decided that Martijn will start on Saturday. We had Martijn on standby and we are very confident in his form and know he will deliver for the team even with such short notice.”

According to Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Slipstream Sports: “Dan has shown outstanding grace and character as we have gone through the decision process. He wants what is best for the team.”

Maaskant has been training with the Tour squad since Martin’s knee problems surfaced earlier this week.

“Of course I would have loved to start the Tour, but I want what is best for the team,” Dan Martin told Roadcycling.com. “The medical staff and directors have been incredibly supportive, but at this point we’ve exhausted all of our resources. I wish the outcome would have been different, but Martijn is in great form and will be a strong replacement.”

Martijn Maaskant had the following comment “I know this has been a challenging situation. Dan has been in exceptional form and to be forced out by injury right before the start is hard. But we’ve worked hard to position me as the alternate, and I will do everything possible to deliver good results for the team and especially for Dan.”