For his second day in the red jersey on the Vuelta, Lenny Martinez had to face the attacks on Saturday. Stage 8, concluding with the steep climb of Xorret de Cati, did hurt the legs, but the young leader of Groupama-FDJ enjoyed the support of his teammates until the final battle. Although he could not keep up with the best, he did put on a good fight with Michael Storer to limit his losses. On the line, heeventually lost just over a minute, and his red jersey at the same time. He still remains third overall and leads the young rider’s ranking. The first week of the Vuelta will come to anend on Sunday with another summit finish.
In the aftermath of a rather quiet stage, Lenny Martinez expected the situation to be quite different on Saturday. Stage 8 featured 3,500 metres of elevation gain and not so much flat terrain. The peloton was heading to the brutal Xorret de Cati (3.8 km at 11.5%), but the bumpy profile to reach it also made for quite a tough day on the saddle. “We knew from the start that it was going to be hard”, explained Benoît Vaugrenard. “We thought the breakaway could go all the way today, so there were a lot of contenders.” The fight went on for almost an hour, until the end of the day’s first climb, and thirty riders managed to get away. “Once it went, we tried to maintain the gap knowing that the best rider overall was four minutes behind Lenny,” added Benoît. “Jumbo-Visma then came to chase, but we did quite a bit of work at first with Clément and Sam, then Romain and Lewis. The team did a great job, but we quickly understood that Jumbo-Visma wanted to win the stage, or even take the jersey”. Groupama-FDJ kept things in hand until the halfway point, then the Dutch team gradually picked up the pace. Over the climbs, the peloton started to get thinner, but Lenny Martinez still had five teammates after thepenultimate categorized climb. “It was really fast”, said the young man from Cannes. “Jumbo-Visma’s tempo suffocatedeveryone”.
“The pace was too fast”, Lenny Martinez
At the head of the race, the breakaway broke up with the stage victory at stake, but the peloton kept on closing in. Twenty kilometres from the finish, the gap was only one minute, and it was again reduced by half at the bottom of the final climb. Romain Grégoire and Rudy Molard tried to position the red jersey as well as possible for the big battle, and the tempo proved very hard from the first ramps. The peloton exploded, and Lenny Martinez managed to keep the wheels for nearly two kilometres before letting the best slip away. “I just didn’t have the legs to keep up,” he said later. “The last climb was steep, it suited me well, I had decent legs, but the pace was too fast. I felt before the climb that I was a bit on the limit because of how hard the stage was. Michael waited for me and helped me a lot. I tried to keep a steady tempo so as not to blow up. If that had been the case, I would have lost even more time”. The young Frenchman followed his Aussie mate, did not surrender, and even caught some riders in the last two kilometres of climbing. At the top, he was a minute behind the main favourites, who battled for victory after a short descent and a last kilometre uphill. Primoz Roglic won the stage, and Lenny Martinez crossed the line with a decent 13th position, 1’10 behind the Slovenian.
“Lenny can be proud of his ride“, Michael Storer
Since Sepp Kuss and Marc Soler managed to keep the pace in the lead, the former rider from “La Conti” however slipped to third place overall. He therefore had to return his leader’s jersey on Saturday afternoon, after two memorable days. “Obviously I would have liked to keep the red jersey longer”, said Lenny. “I’m a bit disappointed to lose it, because you quickly get used to it (smiles), but I still have the white one. I only lost a minute, and that’s not so bad, given how tough the stage and the last climb were. In front, that’s the guys fighting for the final win on the Vuelta, they are champions. I’m happy not to lose too much time”. “He may have paid a little for the various protocols of the last few days, but he is young and that’s normal”, added Benoît. “He lost the jersey, but he is still third overall and with the white jersey. Tomorrow, the team will be able to breathe a little, as he will from this evening. Of course, we are disappointed, but it may not be so bad for the future”. A crucial lieutenant for his young matethis Saturday, Michael Storer added: “I would not speak of frustration. It was a hard stage and Jumbo-Visma decided to go for it. Lenny lost the jersey, but he can be proud of his ride. He exceeded his own expectations, by far. There are no regrets. We have the youngest team in the race and five riders are riding their first Grand Tour. When I was racing my first Vuelta, I was just trying to reach Madrid. It’s impressive what the guys are doing.”
Sunday, the riders will head to the top of the Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca (8km at 5%) after a slightly less hilly stage. “We can once again think that the breakaway will make it, there will be a big fight at the start, then the peloton will decide, in particular Jumbo-Visma”, added Benoît Vaugrenard. Lenny Martinez will enter the day one minute behind the new red jersey, Sepp Kuss, but with an unchanged goal. “I’m still in the mix, and the goal when you fight for the GC is to not lose ten minutes on one day”, he concluded. “If I can’t follow the best, and I lose more or less a minute everytime, that’s okay. The goal is to be consistent and that’s what I intend to do. Now, back to the white jersey and to an almost normal life”.
No comment