Tour de France: a tale of 3rd places

After three weeks and 3,302 kilometres, Team Bahrain Victorious finished the Tour de France with another 3rd place by Matej Mohoric, who animated the new, criterium-style finale on the rain-soaked streets of Paris. While the team missed out on a stage win, Lenny Martinez's bid for the Polka Dot jersey added to the excitement.

While Team Bahrain Victorious may have missed out on the decisive breakaway in the penultimate stage of the 112th Tour de France, Fred Wright and Matej Mohoric got into the right move on the conclusive stage. Ridden on a freshly designed circuit in the heart of Paris, this stage saw an action-packed finale. Due to the dismal weather reports, the race jury had decided to clock the times for the overall standings with 50 kilometres to go. As the race hit the cobbled Côte de la Butte Montmartre for the first time, the race was on. Tadej Pogacar upped the speed, and only a few riders could follow - one of them being Matej Mohoric. Six riders vied for the last stage win, with Wout Van Aert taking the win on the Champs-Elysées and Mohoric sprinting to 3rd - the third podium result for the team in the race. 

Despite some hick-ups in the first two stages, the 112th edition of the Tour de France seemed to be off to a decent start for Team Bahrain Victorious as Phil Bauhaus sprinted to a 3rd place in Dunkirk at the end of stage 3. But the team's plans to compete for a top 10 on GC at the Tour de France got seriously derailed on stage 7. On the approach to the finish in Mûr-de-Bretagne, GC leader Santiago Buitrago and key domestique Jack Haig could not avoid a high-speed crash. While the latter was forced to abandon the race with a broken collarbone, Buitrago could finish the stage accompanied by three teammates, albeit beaten and bruised and conceding some serious time. As it was one key rider down and faced a serious time deficit on GC, the team changed its priorities and tactics.

Before the race headed for the Pyrenees, Lenny Martinez moved into the spotlights on Bastille Day: Jumping into the day's breakaway, the young French climber made good use of the many KOM points on offer in stage 10 to take over the iconic Maillot à Pois of the race's best climber, also known as the Polka Dot jersey. Martinez also showed a strong performance in the mountain ITT, finishing in 9th place. The next highlight for Team Bahrain Victorious came courtesy of Santiago Buitrago: Having reached the foot of Mont Ventoux in a large breakaway, the Colombian paced his effort on the iconic climb well, clawed his way back to the race leaders on the penultimate kilometre and finished stage 16 in 3rd - the second podium result for the team. 

As the Tour de France entered its decisive phase in the French Alps and Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard started to trade blows, Lenny Martinez saw his chances for the best climber's jersey fade. Nevertheless, the young Frenchman continued to jump into early groups to add to his points tally repeatedly. As a reward for his efforts, he finished the Tour de France in 3rd in the KOM standings behind the two riders who dominated the fight for the overall standings.

RESULTS:
112TH TOUR DE FRANCE
STAGE 21: MANTES-LA-VILLE - PARIS, 132.3KM
1. Wout Van Aert, BEL, in 3:07.30 hours
2. Davide Ballerini, ITA, + 0.19
3. Matej Mohoric, SVN/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, st

STAGE 16: MONTPELLIER - MONT VENTOUX, 171.5KM
1. Valentin Paret-Peintre, FRA, in 4:03.19 hours
2. Ben Healy, IRL, st
3. Santiago Buitrago, COL/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, + 0.04

BEST CLIMBERS CLASSIFICATION:
1. Tadej Pogacar, SVN, 119 points
2. Jonas Vingegaard, DEN, 104 points
3. Lenny Martinez, FRA/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, 97 points

Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency