And that makes it five. A month after the Tour de Romandie, Lenny Martinez made his return to racing in the most beautiful way on Wednesday at the Mercan’Tour Classic. On a very good form since the start of the season, the young French climber claimed another win, his fifth in 2024, despite a crash in the Col de la Couillole. He eventually beat Clément Berthet in the last hundreds of metres leading to Valberg. David Gaudu took 18th place after attacking in the penultimate climb, while Groupama-FDJ secured their ninth victory of the year.
A few changes were made on the route for the 4th edition of the Mercan’Tour Classic this Wednesday. While the Colmiane (16km at 5.4%) and the Couillole (16km at 7.3%) remained on the menu of this Classic for climbers, the finish was on the other hand located at the first passage to Valberg, right after la Couillole. The final, complete climb to Valberg was taken out, but the climb to Baisse de Cabanet through the Col de la Porte was added at the start of the race. In the end, the elevation gain remained quite similar with more than 4500 metres of climbing. With Lenny Martinez and David Gaudu at the start, Groupama-FDJ were expected to get the responsibility of the race, which was confirmed quite early on when a breakaway of six went and Pierre Latour tried to anticipate in the first climb. “Given the team we had, we took command,” said Benoît Vaugrenard. “We wanted to make the race hard, especially on the last climb, in order to have as few riders as possible at the summit because there were thirteen kilometres remaining afterwards and we knew that it could become tactical. We’d rather make it hard, even if it meant losing.” From the climb of La Colmiane, Reuben Thompson and Quentin Pacher therefore started to pull, and Valentin Retailleau, the last fugitive, was quickly caught. “They did the undermining work, then the guys did a nice descent,” added Benoît. “On the last climb, we had planned for Kevin to take control from the bottom and then for Rudy to take over. It went totally as we planned.”
“Lenny was really strong”, Benoît Vaugrenard
Thanks to solid teamwork, the peloton was reduced to around twenty riders, and Lenny Martinez then decided to make his first attack ten kilometres from the summit of La Couillole. “The goal was to set a big tempo then to attack with David,” explains the young man. “I attacked but the level was quite high, so I didn’t manage to go away.” The leading group, on the other hand, further reduced to ten men or so, and the two leaders of Groupama-FDJ tried to follow each move. David Gaudu had actually just followed an acceleration when his young teammate found himself on the ground. “I crashed very stupidly when I hit a wheel,” said Lenny. “I checked if everything was okay with the bike and got back to it. I still had to make a big effort to get back and I left a small bullet there.” “We got a bit scared, but I saw at that moment that he was doing very well because he came back with impressive ease,” Benoît said. “He was really strong.” While the young man was bridging across, David Gaudu followed an attack from George Bennett, and the two men took a small gap, until the Breton was distanced five kilometres from the top. “I was feeling really good, and suddenly, my legs didn’t respond anymore,” he explained.
Lenny Martinez therefore took over, and chased back Bennett, with Matthew Riccitello, Clément Berthet and also Harm Vanhoucke in his wheel. A five-man group went clear three kilometres from the top, and Berthet then took advantage of the others looking at each other to build a fifteen-second lead. “It was difficult to go out with the two Israel-Premier Tech riders,” said Lenny. “It was a bit tactical. I tried to go one last time before the summit, and I managed to do it. I put everything into getting back to Clément and I thought that it could be a good situation to go with him to the finish. I was mostly worried about being beaten by the numbers if the Israel riders came back.” Thanks to a sharp attack, the Groupama-FDJ rider was able to overtake his fellow countryman and even distance him a bit before the summit of La Couillole. The duo reformed in the short downhill prior to the small ascent to Valberg. “I told him that we had to work together, and that it would be stupid if they came back,” added Lenny. “We worked well together, it was great.” They indeed kept a 30-second lead over their closest chasers, then Lenny Martinez waited until the flamme rouge to produce his final and decisive attack. “I tried to start my sprint earlier, and it worked out,” he added.
“I wanted to win this race this year,” Lenny Martinez
Despite his crash and many efforts, Lenny Martinez proved the strongest and got himself his fifth win of the season. Also, not just anywhere. “It’s not very far from home and I wanted to win this race this year,” he said. “I’m very happy that it ended like this. Two years ago I was eighth, I was fourth last year and first this year. It shows my progress, and the team was also very good, so it’s nice.” David Gaudu joined the line about five minutes later, in 18th position. “I exploded, that’s how it is, but the most important thing is that we won,” added Breton. “I had good legs the rest of the day, I think the job was done and the goal was achieved.” “The whole team did a good race,” concluded Benoît. “Lenny was dominant, just like his start to the season in one-day races. He masters them, he knows how to handle them, he rides smart, and he also has this kick in the sprint which allows him to be fine in all scenarios. He is also confident. Everything goes well for him. He’s impressive, because five victories aren’t a small achievement. He’s a sniper, he almost never misses. For the team, this victory also matters because we are entering an important phase for us with the Critérium du Dauphiné, the Tour de Suisse, the French championships, and the Tour. The goal was to get on the right track today, and that was done.”
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