CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious star Lenny Martinez claimed a top 10 finish yesterday in a rain-hit fourth stage of the 84th Paris-Nice race in France.
The Frenchman secured an impressive seventh place after 195km of intense battles, with the course running from the communes of Bourges to Uchon.
Martinez was classified four minutes behind winner Jonas Vingegaard of Team Vista-Lease a Bike, who took first place in the leg in a time of four hours 16 minutes and 12 seconds. Daniel Felipe Martinez and Tim Van Dijke put two Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe competitors on the podium, with both crossing the finish more than 40 seconds behind Vingegaard.
Damiano Caruso was Bahrain Victorious’s second-best rider in 86th yesterday, while Nikias Arndt finished 97th, Phil Bauhaus was 100th, and Kamil Gradek 104th, while Mathijs Paasschens and Robert Stannard did not finish.
With yesterday’s results, Martinez climbed 28 places to sixth overall on the general classification (GC), where he was five minutes behind overall leader Vingegaard. He also rose 13 spots to third in the best young rider rankings, where he is just under two minutes from leader Georg Steinhauser of EF Education-EasyPost.
Meanwhile, in another race in Europe yesterday, Bahrain Victorious ace Edoardo Zambanini was just outside of the top 20 following a bunch sprint to complete the third stage of the 61st Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy.
The 221km leg – the longest of the event – started at the town of Cortona and ended at the commune of Magliano de’ Marsi, with Zambanini amongst those competing for a top position at the end.
Tobias Lund Andresen of Decathlon CMA CGM Team was the victor in 5:29:22, while Arnaud de Lie of Lotto Intermarche and Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech were second and third, respectively.
Bahrain Victorious’s Fran Miholjevic ranked 52nd in the leg, Antonio Tiberi was 75th, Roman Erkamov was 79th, Pello Bilbao came 99th, Santiago Buitrago was 101st, and Attila Valter finished 150th.
In the event’s GC, Tiberi stayed sixth after three stages while Buitrago made it into the top 10 after rising one place. Tiberi also led two Bahrain Victorious riders in the leading 10 of the best young rider rankings in fourth, while Zambanini was 10th.
Bahrain Victorious remained third overall on the teams’ classification, behind only Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe and UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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