CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious superstar Lenny Martinez maintained his lead in the best young rider ranking yesterday after the second stage of the 79th Tour de Romandie in Switzerland.
Martinez completed the 173.1-kilometre leg as part of a large group of riders who competed in a bunch sprint to the finish. He was eventually classified 21st, while Bahrain Victorious teammate Antonio Tiberi came 15th – both clocking a similar finishing time of four hours eight minutes and 11 seconds as winner Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
With his result, Martinez continued to top the standings for top youth competitor by seven seconds from Jorgen Nordhagen of Team Visma-Lease a Bike.
He also stayed third overall on the race’s general classification after two stages – 26 seconds behind Pogacar, who triumphed in both.
Martinez, however, lost his lead in the King of the Mountains ranking, where he dropped to second with 15 points and is now behind Roland Thalmann of Tudor Pro Cycling Team, who has 25 points.
Amongst Bahrain Victorious’ other competitors yesterday, Vlad van Mechelen and Damiano Caruso finished 63rd and 64th, respectively, Attila Valter came 73rd, Kamil Gradek was 80th, and Robert Stannard finished 84th.
The Tour de Romandie continues today with the 176.6km third leg, starting and finishing in the Swiss municipality of Orbe.
The Union Cycliste Internationale World Tour race continues until Sunday. Riders are competing over a total of 851.9km across its five stages.