CYCLING – Lenny Martinez may have finished runner-up on Stage 3 of the Tour de Romandie, but the young French rider showed no hesitation on the Queen Stage, powering to victory atop the brutal Thyon 2000 climb and outsprinting João Almeida in the final metres.
The 118.2 km stage began with an early breakaway featuring Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), Louis Barré (Intermarché – Wanty), and Julien Bernard (Lidl – Trek), who escaped on the opening ascent of the Anzère. Heading into the final 50 km, the peloton maintained a manageable two-minute gap on the Category 1 Nax climb, keeping the leaders within reach.
As the race approached the final climb, Max van der Meulen and Finlay Pickering began to reduce the deficit, reeling in the last breakaway rider with 13 km to go.
In the final 5 km, only four riders remained at the front: Martinez, Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), and Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan Team). With 4 km to go, it became a head-to-head battle between Martinez and Almeida, as the pair distanced themselves and quickly opened up a gap.
Just as he had on Stage 3, Martinez outsprinted Almeida at the line to take an emphatic win.
With the victory and 10 bonus seconds, Martinez moved into the overall lead, now holding a slim 2-second advantage over Fortunato heading into tomorrow’s decisive individual time trial in Geneva.
A delighted Martinez commented: “Yeah I feel okay on the last climb, all the team did a great job, the same as yesterday also. Yesterday second place I wanted to win. This morning I woke up and I was thinking maybe I can win today also. I tried the best I could do and in the end I won so I’m super happy. I feel super good with this team, they did a super amazing job every day for me. They give me a lot of confidence on me like a leader and I’m just super proud of the team.”
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