"It feels good to be with the big favorites like that" - Lenny Martinez goes toe-to-toe with Vingegaard and Almeida

Lenny Martinez showed another glimpse of his immense talent on fourth stage of Paris-Nice. Wednesday was marked by harsh conditions for cyclists on all fronts, and riders at the Race to the Sun haven't enjoyed much sun either.

All the more reason for Martinez to be happy with his 4th place, having now taken over as leader of his team. "It feels good to be with the big favorites like that," he said in a flash interview after the stage. "I tried to get a result at the end but it was super explosive. I'm still happy with the day."

Unfortunately, Bahrain - Victorious lost its intended leader Santiago Buitrago. For Martinez this brings a new challenge as he was promoted on the battlefield from a back-up leader. "Now that I'm the leader, I'm going to try to do my best, we'll have to avoid the pitfalls on the flat stages, that's sometimes the most complicated. I hope to achieve a good overall ranking for the team," he said.

The withdrawal of Buitrago came as a hard blow for team morale with everyone already on the verge of abandoning in the freezing conditions. The cold during the day almost forced Martinez to throw in the towel too. "When they told me that Santiago (Buitrago) was out of the race, it hurt a bit because he's our leader. I didn't feel very good afterward. Then we got rain, hail... I was freezing."

Race neutralization came at the right time for Martinez who was able to change into warmer clothes and re-enter his zone. "I waited for the car to change otherwise I don't think I would have finished the race, I was very cold... But then the race resumed and I warmed up," he explained. Martinez is currently 9th overall, 1:09 behind race leader, Jonas Vingegaard. Then the goal is likely the podium which is only 36 seconds away.