The Frenchman Lenny Martinez won the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie on Saturday, playing the Portuguese Joao Almeida after the long ascent towards Thyon 2000, seizing the yellow jersey at the same time.
At 21, the Bahrain Victorious prodigy offered himself with cold the eighth professional success of his career, the second in World Tour after the fifth stage of Paris-Nice in March. Second in the day before, the French has taken the first four difficulties of this part of Sion (more than 4,000 m of elevation gain condensed in 128 km) before making the difference within 20 km to Thyon 2000.
Launched three kilometers from the summit in a duel with Almeida, after already a big job of the UAEs to skim the peloton, Martinez has taken the least possible to accelerate just before the line and supplant the Portuguese.
In the general classification, he chips the yellow jersey to a compatriot, Alex Baudin, to count two seconds ahead of the Italian Lorenzo Fortunato and three on Joao Almeida, before the final time trial of 17 km Sunday in Geneva. The Belgian Remco Evenepoel, dropped almost nine kilometers from the finish, has limited the damage and still points to 9th row, 1 min 41 sec from Martinez.
