"I wasn’t going to ask him to let me..." - Lenny Martínez disappointed but forced to settle behind Tadej Pogacar on Suisse queen stage

Lenny Martínez has shown at the Tour de Suisse that he is ready for the Tour de France, but the results he obtained were not what he hoped for. A stellar climbing performance on stage 5 almost earned him the stage win, but he was put face to face with none other than Tadej Pogacar.

On stage 1 of the Swiss race, both he and Antonio Tiberi lost full contact with the fight for the overall classification on the stage that opened up by surprise under Pogacar's pressure. It was a big disappointment, and whilst Tiberi's worries over form are very real, that is not the case with Martínez.

Now having the freedom, he joined the day's breakaway with Afonso Eulálio on the final day of the race. Two ascents of the 19-kilometer Col de la Croix and the final 11-kilometer long ascent to Villars-sur-Ollon proved to make for a real mountain stage.

Martínez was the strongest out of the men in front, and attacked the final climb. In short, he would've been successful, if it weren't for the World Champion. Despite being in the breakaway all day, he did not lose any meaningful time towards his direct rivals in the peloton, showcasing his best form.

But in the final kilometer he was joined by Pogacar, who reportedly did 7.2W/Kg throughout 24 minutes - a mammoth effort, one that cut the gap to Martínez, and created the winning difference already inside the final kilometer.

“There’s some disappointment. I think that if I’d had maybe 10 or 15 seconds more, I would have made it to the flat part, and it might have worked out," Martínez said to CyclingPro.net. "But I was in the breakaway all day. I gave it a go. I thought I might win, but he was a little stronger, so that’s just how it goes.”

If he had begun the climb in the peloton he would stand little chance of taking the win, and so he opted to go for an elusive stage win, just as happened on the final day of Auvergne last year. But this time around, the Slovenian was not conservative.

“I’m glad to have reassured myself. My legs feel great. Day by day, they’ve been getting better. I got off to a really bad start at this Tour de Suisse, so I can see that things are better now, my level has come back up a bit.”

Martínez looked to get the KOM jersey at last year's Tour, the points system eventually got in the way and benefited the GC men. This time around a more consistent Martínez should aim for GC, under the radar as his home nation eyes up Paul Seixas' chances.

But if Martínez wants to win a stage, he knows that this has to be through breakaways against competition of such level.

“Tadej wins a lot of races, and that’s exactly what he wanted to do again today. It’s complicated but that’s how it is," the Frenchman is aware of. "That’s cycling. I wasn’t going to ask him to let me beat him.”

On the climb to Villars-sur-Ollon there were hopes and a lot of motivation, but against a rider like Pogacar very little can be done. “I could see he was gaining time little by little, not all at once, so that shows the level was there. I gave it my all, so I couldn’t have done any better," he concluded.