CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious rider Lenny Martinez climbed two race classifications yesterday after the sixth stage of the 77th Criterium du Dauphine elite men’s road race in France.
After finishing the 126.7-kilometre leg in 20th place overall amongst nearly 150 riders, Martinez shot up six spots on the general classification (GC) to 13th while also rising two positions seventh in the best young rider rankings.
Martinez was just under three minutes behind stage winner Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and a few seconds from Bahrain Victorious teammate Jack Haig, who was their best finisher on the day in 19th.
Amongst their other squad members, Torstein Traen was 33rd, Santiago Buitrago 42nd, Robert Stannard 104th, and Fred Wright 135th. Kamil Gradek had to withdraw from the race after feeling unwell.
With yesterday’s results, Haig also made a huge stride on the GC, improving 16 places to 15th. Pogacar continues to lead the ranking with two stages remaining. He is over four minutes ahead of both Martinez and Haig.
In the best young rider classification, Martinez is three minutes from first place, occupied by Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.
Meanwhile, the Bahrain Victorious squad improved three positions to third in the teams’ rankings. Team Visma-Lease a Bike are first, 11 minutes ahead of Bahrain Victorious, while UAE Team Emirates-XRG are second, nine minutes from the top.
The seventh and penultimate stage takes place today. It is set to cover 131.6 kilometres. Tomorrow will be the final day of the event, which is a part of the 2025 calendar of the UCI World Tour.
Also yesterday, Bahrain Victorious rider Nicolo Buratti was the team’s top-ranked finisher in the 61st GP Gippingen, held in Leuggern, Switzerland.
Buratti was classified 12th at the end of the 173.8km, one-day race. He finished 21 seconds behind winner Neilson Powless of EF Education-EasyPost.
Max van der Meulen was his next best teammate in 29th, while Mathijs Paasschens came 32nd. Matej Mohoric finished 49th and Finlay Pickering was 54th.
&uuid=(email))