"I was a bit afraid of cracking like yesterday..." - Lenny Martínez doesn't risk following Tadej Pogacar but secures Romandie podium

Lenny Martínez finished second at last year's Tour de Romandie, and this time around the Frenchman rode to third. Since turning pro in 2023, the Frenchman has travelled to the French-speaking region of Switzerland and has steadily evolved over the year. This Sunday, he completed a successful spring campaign with another strong podium result for his palmarès.

On stage 1 he was the only rider to follow Tadej Pogacar's first attack. This Saturday's stage saw Martínez try to do the same, but explode shortly after from the effort - whilst Florian Lipowitz bridged across and later on virtually secured his second place. Martínez entered the final stage in third place, with a good chance of securing it, and with Bahrain - Victorious deploying all their resources to ensure the breakaway wouldn't fight for the win.

"Honestly, I felt better and better every day during this Tour de Romandie. Today, I was at my best. It shows that I'm improving as the week progresses. Today, the team did a fantastic job; they protected me well and worked the climb," Martínez said in an interview with CyclingPro.net. With the likes of Antonio Tiberi and Damiano Caruso setting the pace for the 22-year old up the final climb, with a rider like Tadej Pogacar behind, it was definitely a moment of pressure and responsibility for the team's new main weapon in the mountains. "I really enjoyed seeing them, it gave me a lot of strength".

There was motivation too from Martínez' side, but when Florian Lipowitz and Tadej Pogacar began attacking the final climb to Leysin, the pace was just a tad too high to follow. "Towards the end, I knew Tadej was going to attack. I wanted to try and follow him, but I was a bit afraid of cracking like yesterday," he admits. "He was a bit stronger than me, along with Lipowitz".

Martínez didn't want to potentially risk losing his spot on the podium, so he stayed within his limits, and focused on Jorgen Nordhagen of Visma, who started the day only 7 seconds in arrears. "I was really wary of Nordhagen; I didn't want him to take my place on the podium". That's where he stayed all the way to the finish line, crossing it in sixth place, 11 seconds behind the stage winner, but with the podium secured.

In an era of riders with generational climbing ability such as Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and now also seemingly his compatriot Paul Seixas; podium places cannot be pushed aside for the rest of the field. Specially, for a rider who is only 22 years of age like Martínez. He has finished fifth at Paris-Nice where he won the final stage ahead of Jonas Vingegaard; finished second to Vingegaard at the Volta a Catalunya; and now capped off his spring with another top result.

Consistency has often been his main obstacle in the past, but over the past few months it has been possible to see a more complete Lenny Martínez, who will have a lot of team trust deposited in him ahead of the Tour de France where he may fight for the overall classification. "For me, it's been perfect. I expected to do some good things, and that's exactly what happened at Paris-Nice. I'm happy to have been able to win there, especially ahead of Jonas [Vingegaard].

"I had a good overall result in Catalunya, and here too. I also had a good start to the season in one-day races," he adds. There is no reason to expect the good streak to continue, taking into consideration his climbing abilities and his evolution on the time trial bike and the days with bad weather.

"For now, things are going well, and now I'm going to train at altitude for two weeks to prepare for the Tour de Suisse and the Tour to try and do some good things there as well," he concluded.