Posted on: 14-03-2025

Lenny Martinez claims first WorldTour victory!

Joy and pain are often closely related in the sport of cycling. Team Bahrain Victorious experienced this mix of emotions during Paris-Nice: the day after their leader in the general classification, Santiago Buitrago, was forced to leave the race after a crash, Lenny Martinez proved his worth as a joker and made optimal use of the steep final to achieve his first WorldTour victory. At the Tirreno-Adriatico, Antonio Tiberi is currently 3rd in the general classification and still has a chance to achieve a great performance.

The Paris-Nice stage race, also known as the “race to the sun”, became a true battle of attrition in stage 4: wet and cold weather made for miserable conditions, but it became really dangerous and chaotic when sleet and hail fell with 50 kilometers to go. Santiago Buitrago, the leader in the general classification for Team Bahrain Victorious, was on his way to rejoin the peloton after a flat tire when he crashed hard in a corner. Since Buitrago had hit his head hard, the team decided to take him out of the race immediately and send him to the hospital for a thorough check-up. The stage was temporarily neutralized due to the dangerous conditions, which made the riders even colder. Nevertheless, Lenny Martinez was one of the strongest riders in the final and finished 4th, moving him up to 9th place in the general classification.

The weather was not much better for stage 5, which was full of categorized climbs and had almost no flat stretches over a total distance of 203.3 kilometers. Because Santiago Buitrago was forced to leave the race, Lenny Martinez was free to pursue his own ambitions, and that is exactly what the young French climbing specialist did. The final of this stage seemed perfectly suited to his strengths: the last 1.7 kilometers had an average gradient of 11.1%, with some sections reaching as much as 18% - that's seriously steep. On this last climb, the battle between the favorites broke out, and the group was reduced to just five riders. One of these riders was Lenny Martinez of Team Bahrain Victorious. The Frenchman was patient, followed the moves of the others and then attacked hard.

This acceleration by Lenny Martinez proved to be too explosive and perfectly timed for the other GC candidates. Martinez opened a gap and did not slow down again until he raised his arms in the air in victory, winning his first WorldTour race of his career in the colors of Team Bahrain Victorious on his home turf. How can it get any better? Lenny Martinez was thrilled after his first victory at the highest level in professional cycling: "I knew that the team staff thought this stage was a great opportunity for me because it suited me well, but it was also the stage of this edition of Paris-Nice that I feared the most because it was so explosive. Because of the weather and what happened to Santiago yesterday, I was not looking forward to this stage, and it is ironic that on this day I celebrate the greatest victory of my career so far."

Thanks to his victory, Lenny Martinez climbed one more position in the general classification, from 9th to 5th. With this stage victory, Team Bahrain Victorious has already achieved its most important goal for this race. Everything that comes now is a welcome bonus. This week the team will also be in Italy for the Tirreno-Adriatico, a stage race with a strong selection of riders. As the leader in the general classification, Antonio Tiberi can count on the support and experience of Pello Bilbao and Damiano Caruso. During the opening time trial on flat terrain, Tiberi extended his series of top-5 results against the clock by finishing 4th. Since then he has moved up to fourth place in the general classification, with the toughest stages still to come. In other words, Tiberi is well on course for a very good result in this year's Tirreno-Adriatico.

RESULT: 83rd PARIS-NICE
STAGE 5: SAINT-JUST-EN-CHEVALET - LA CÔTE-SAINT-ANDRÉ, 203.3 KM

1. Lenny Martinez, FRA / Team Bahrain Victorious, in 4:36:23 hours
2. Clément Champoussin, FRA, +0:03
3. Matteo Jorgenson, USA, st

Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency