He suffered, but it was Lenny Martinez who will have been the big winner of this Romandie Tour of the Tour. The only runner capable of responding to the attacks of the UAE-Emirates-XRG, the French of the Bahrain-Victorious followed Joao Almeida in the final climb of Thyon 2000 before taking advantage of his punch to win the sprint in front of the Portuguese.
The 8th victory of his career, the second of his season in World Tour, also allows him to take the yellow leading jersey, on the eve of the last stage, in front of the Italian Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana, + 2 ”), also 3rd in the stage, and Joao Almeida ( + 3 ”). Obviously in a day without, Remco Evenepoel turned into a teammate of Junior Lecerf, 5th of the general.
Almeida, the queen stage and the yellow jersey, Martinez takes everything: the video summary
Video credit: Eurosport
What if France finally held Christophe Moreau’s successor? With a final time trial of 17km around Geneva and extremely tightened deviations, nothing is done, but Lenny Martinez got into the ideal position to succeed the last French winner of a race by stage World Tour, in 2007.
At the end of a day marked by the long breakaway of Ben Zwiehoff (Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe), Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty) and Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), everything was played in the endless ascent of Thyon 2000 (20km at 7.7%). But if the Lotto and the Bahrain-Victorious led the bar for a long time, it was the UAE-Emirates-XRG, not surprising, exploded the group.
-3 seconds ahead of Almeida before the time
Taking advantage of the failure of Remco Evenepoel (Sudal-Quick Step), obviously not in legs and who preferred to turn into a luxury teammate for Junior Lecerf (5th of the General after having conceded 1’29 ” to Thyon 2000), Joao Almeida and Jay Vine hardened the appearance 8km from the arrival, multiplying the attacks to scatter the leaders.
The Alex Baudin yellow jersey (EF Eucation-Easy Post) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) had cracked for a long time and all the others imitated them, including Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana), the last runner to hold the wheel of the Almeida-Martinez duo. Jay Vine just stayed in the Italian wheel, not wanting to bring him back to his leader. And the Portuguese and the French then flew to 4km from the finish.
Martinez learns live that he is a yellow jersey of the Romandie Tour: “Are you sure?”
Video credit: Eurosport
A little bit stronger, Almeida several times seemed to get Martinez, but the Habs have always been snatched to take over the wheel of the Portuguese and offer himself the right to compete in the sprint victory. More “punchy” than her rival of the day, Martinez has perfectly negotiated the turn 150m from the line to approach the last straight line in mind and, despite its strength, Almeida has never been able to go up.
After the 5th stage in Paris-Nice, the French of the Bahrain-Victorious is a second prestige success this season. Above all, he seizes the leading yellow jersey, on the eve of the final time which he will approach with 2 ” ahead of Fortunato and, above all, 3 ” on Almeida, which seems more than ever the immense favorite to win this 78th edition. But Lenny Martinez has already surprised it once.
