Lenny Martinez tried, let’s give him that.
The lightly built climber on Bahrain Victorious had an absolutely awful start to the Tour de France, including placing an ignominious 182nd out of 182 finishers on stage 1, a sprint stage, where he lost over nine minutes despite not crashing or suffering a specific illness. He just felt tired, he said.
But he rebounded in his favored terrain, going in the breakaway on a mountainous stage 10 – Bastille Day, no less – and staking a lead in the Best Climber (aka King of the Mountains) competition. “I’m very happy. The ‘maillot a pois’ is incredible,” he said after the stage. “It’s something I have dreamed of since I was young and watching the Tour de France.”
The polka dot jersey for the race’s best climber has special resonance for Martinez, as his grandfather, Mariano, won the competition in the 1978 Tour. And it was clear Martinez was motivated to try for his own victory. After losing the jersey to overall race leader Tadej Pogačar on stage 12 despite going in the breakaway again, he reclaimed it two days later at Superbagnères after spending most of another day out front.
Never mind that his best stage finish so far has been eighth; the objective was clear. “The plan was the first three climbs, then keep my place until the finish, but in the end the peloton caught me so I conserved my energy in the last 30 km,” he said after the Superbagnères finish. “I’ll try every day to do my best and to take more points like this and play the game on the big stages that are left.”
Alas, even then, Martinez is likely not going to go home with the competition. Which is kind of a shame because it seems he’s the only one who really cares about it.
Did we do a good job with this story?
