CYCLING – Team Bahrain Victorious ended the first week of the 113th Tour de France yesterday with Lenny Martinez in eighth place overall on the general classification (GC) after nine of the race’s 21 stages.
Martinez was the leading finisher yesterday for the kingdom’s squad, completing the 154.6-kilometre ninth leg in 31st – as part of a trailing group that was six seconds behind stage winner Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Premier Tech.
That result helped Martinez maintain his position in the top 10 of the GC, where he is four minutes and 21 seconds behind overall leader Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
Martinez is also third on the King of the Mountain rankings with 16 points, 12 behind Pogacar who also leads, and is fourth on the best young rider standings, where he is 54 seconds behind Isaac Del Toro, also of UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
Amongst Bahrain Victorious’ other riders in yesterday’s stage, Robert Stannard finished 76th, Matej Mohoric was 93rd, Vlad van Mechelen came 98th, Antonio Tiberi was 118th, Damiano Caruso was 119th, Kamil Gradek finished 155th, and Phil Bauhaus was 167th.
The Tour de France is the second Grand Tour of this international cycling season.
The first was the Giro d’Italia held in May, while the last is the Vuelta a Espana, which will be taking place in August and September.
This year’s Tour de France covers a total of 3,319km and 54,303m of elevation.
Today will be the first of two rest days across the three weeks of action.
Racing resumes tomorrow with stage 10, covering 166.6km and starting from Aurillac before ending in Le Lioran.
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