First Worldtour win for Lenny Martinez

Joy and pain are often close emotions in cycling. Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS went through this mix of emotions at Paris-Nice: the day after its GC leader Santiago Buitrago was forced to retire from the race following a crash, Lenny Martinez proved his worth as a joker and made good use of the steep finale to secure his first World Tour win. At the Tirreno Adriatico stage race, Antonio Tiberi is currently placed in 3rd on GC - and on track to a great result as well.

The stage race Paris-Nice is also known as the "race to the sun", but the fourth stage of the French stage race turned into a battle of attrition: wet and cold weather made for miserable conditions, but things got really treacherous and chaotic when wet snow and hail started to fall with about 50 kilometres to go. As the GC leader of Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, Santiago Buitrago was about to make his way back to the peloton after a flat tyre had forced him to change a wheel when he crashed hard in a corner. As Buitrago hit his head hard, the team decided to take him out of the race right away and send him to a hospital for a thorough check-up. The stage got neutralised for a while due to the treacherous conditions, which made the riders feel even more cold. Nevertheless, Lenny Martinez was one of the strongest riders in the finale and crossed the finish line in 4th place, moving up to 9th on GC.

The weather was not a whole lot better for stage 5, which was peppered with plenty of categorised climbs and featured barely a flat section over its total distance of 203.3 kilometres. Since Santiago Buitrago had been forced to retire from the race, Lenny Martinez was free to chase his own ambitions, and that was just what the young and talented French climbing specialist did. After all, the finale of this stage looked as if it had been tailor-made to match his strengths: the final 1.7 kilometres had an average gradient of 11.1 %, with some sections maxing out at 18 % - that is seriously steep. On this final ascent, the fight of the GC contenders broke loose for real, and the group of favourites was reduced until there were only five riders left. One of these riders was Lenny Martinez of Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS. The Frenchman was patient, followed the moves of the others and then pounced hard.

This acceleration of Lenny Martinez proved to be too explosive and well-timed for the remaining GC contenders. Martinez opened up a gap and did not slow down anymore until he could raise his arms for a victory salute, winning the first Worldtour race of his career in the jersey of Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS on home turf. How much better can it get? Lenny Martinez was enthusiastic after this maiden win on the highest level of pro cycling: "I knew the team's staff thought this stage was a great opportunity for me as it suited me, but it was also the stage of this year's Paris-Nice edition that I feared most as it was so punchy and explosive. Due to the weather and what had happened to Santiago yesterday, I was not looking forward to this stage before the start, and it's kind of ironic that I ended up celebrating the biggest win of my career thus far on this very day." 

Thanks to his win, Lenny Martinez made another jump in the overall standings, moving up from 9th to 5th. With this stage win, the major goal of Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS for this race has already been achieved. Everything else will be a welcome extra. This week, the team is also racing in Italy at the Tirreno Adriatico stage race, which has a strong selection of riders. As the team's GC leader, Antonio Tiberi can rely on the support and experience of Pello Bilbao and Damiano Caruso. At the opening pan-flat individual time trial, Tiberi extended his string of top 5 results in rides against the clock by finishing in 4th. Since then, he has moved up to 4th on GC, with the most demanding stages still to come. In other words, Tiberi is well on target to score a very good result at this year's edition of the Tirreno Adriatico stage race.

RESULT:
83RD PARIS-NICE 
STAGE 5: SAINT-JUST-EN-CHEVALET - LA CÔTE-SAINT-ANDRÉ, 203.3KM
1. Lenny Martinez, FRA/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, in 4:36.23 hours
2. Clément Champoussin, FRA, + 0.03
3. Matteo Jorgenson, USA, st

Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency