Lenny Martinez wins final Dauphiné stage

Ending a drought of more than a month, Team Bahrain Victorious finally got to enjoy the sweet taste of victory again. And it did so in style: Lenny Martinez left his last remaining breakaway companions behind on the final climb and rode to a solo victory on the Plateau du Mont-Cenis.

With an individual time trial, four hilly stages and a brutally demanding finale with three consecutive mountaintop finishes, the 77th edition of the Criterium du Dauphiné was a worthy test for the Tour de France. Team Bahrain Victorious brought a strong line-up to the race, with 21-year-old Lenny Martinez as its GC captain. As for the mountain stages, the young Frenchman could rely on the support of Santiago Buitrago, Jack Haig, and Torstein Traeen. Fred Wright was the team's option for sprint finishes, with Kamil Gradek and Robert Stannard on general support duties. Early on, Fred Wright made it into the top 10 twice, finishing in 2nd and 8th, respectively. At the end of the second stage, he was only beaten by his former teammate Jonathan Milan.

Both Santiago Buitrago and Lenny Martinez lost a bit too much time in the stage 4 individual time trial, but things were to get worse. At the first mountaintop finish, Buitrago lost more than 10 minutes, and on the brutally demanding, penultimate stage, it was Martinez's turn to have an off day: Suffering from the heat, the young Frenchman of Team Bahrain Victorious finished more than 35 minutes down on the day's winner. But he bounced back the day after, making it into the day's breakaway that worked together well and managed to keep a shrinking group of GC contenders at a distance. The ramps of the Col du Mont-Cenis made for a spectacular setting for the fight for the stage win. The best climbers made their moves, and soon only half a dozen riders remained from the 15-rider breakaway.

When Enric Mas, as one of the strongest climbers, placed another acceleration, Lenny Martinez did not hesitate and closed the gap to the Spaniard. While the latter looked stronger at first, the young Frenchman of Team Bahrain Victorious rode a tactically brilliant race and surprised his rival with an attack with 8 kilometres to go. From there, he extended his lead and rode to a solo stage win. "What a day - I suffered a serious off-day yesterday, but I felt better today after the team had told me to never give up. So I kept fighting, and that paid off today", Lenny Martinez said after the race. "Until today, it has not been a super good week for the team, but this victory changes everything and adds to the good mood going into the Tour de France." As for the team classification, Team Bahrain Victorious finished the Criterium du Dauphiné in 3rd, adding a podium result.

This had remained out of reach in two stage races before. But at the age of just 19 years, Jakob Omrzel showed his class at the Tour of Slovenia. The guest rider from the development team finished inside the top 10 in three of a total of five stages, handsomely won the young rider's classification and finished the race in 4th on GC. Antonio Tiberi looked to be on course for a similar success as the year before at the Giro d'Italia , but a crash on wet cobblestones changed everything. Due to the injuries sustained in that crash, Tiberi could not put his full power to the pedals anymore, putting him out of contention for the overall standings. Luckily, the team's experienced road captain, Damiano Caruso, filled the void masterfully, finishing the first Grand Tour of the season in 5th place.   

Next week, Team Bahrain Victorious is competing at the Tour de Suisse. As the line-up shows, the team is hunting for stage wins rather than a top spot on the GC. Apart from Pello Bilbao, Rainer Kepplinger, Matej Mohoric, Matthijs Paasschens, and the young trio of Nicolo Buratti, Finlay Pickering, and Max van der Meulen are heading into the 8-stage race in Switzerland. Next Thursday will see an emotional moment when the 5th stage sets off in La Punt. Two years after the tragic death of Gino Mäder, a memorial is set to be dedicated to the Swiss rider at the crash site on the Albula Pass. To honour the late teammate, the team will be riding with helmets sporting a special "Ride for Gino" design this week.

Results:
77TH CRITERIUM DU DAUPHINÉ
STAGE 8: VAL D’ARC - PLATEAU DU MONT-CENIS, 133.3KM
1. Lenny Martinez, FRA/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, in 3:34.18 hours
2. Jonas Vingegaard, DEN, + 0.34
3. Tadej Pogacar, SVN, st

STAGE 2: PRÉMILHAT - ISSOIRE, 204.6KM
1. Jonathan Milan, ITA, in 4:54.49 hours
2. Fred Wright, GBR/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, st
3. Mathieu van der Poel, NED, st

Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency