Lenny Martinez explains his shocking victory at Classic Var: "I saw him raise his arms and I thought I could still pass him"

Lenny Martinez was crowned today in the Classic Var, a new one-day race finishing at Mont Faron. In the last meters he managed to overtake Tobias Halland Johannessen, who thought he was sure of victory and prematurely raised his arms.

"I am very happy to win here, for my family, close to home, in a race that I set as my goal," Martinez expressed on the Groupama - FDJ website. During the ascent of Mont Faron, there were several attacks. However, Martinez remained calm and mainly kept going.

"I tried not to explode when the other guys were attacking. Even though I was at my limit, I had to keep going, because there could be a lull. The narrow road made it even harder, as everyone was fighting for position. I wanted to attack at the end and take advantage of David's presence (his teammate David Gaudu, ed.), but others already did. That's why I told myself that I would wait until the end. It was an instinctive decision."

In the last few hundred meters, it seemed that the victory would be disputed between Romain Bardet and Tobias Halland Johannessen, who starred in a long sprint. The Norwegian overtook the Frenchman and appeared to be on his way to victory. Just before the finish line, he raised his hands, but that gesture caused him to lose a lot of speed. Martinez saw this, accelerated once more and took the win.

"I was completely exhausted," commented the 20-year-old Martinez. "My vision was blurry from the effort, I was just looking towards the finish line. I saw how he (Johannessen, ed.) raised his arms and I thought I could still pass him. I made it, and that's cycling. It's a special victory, because three hundred meters from the finish line I thought it was over, because I was left behind. But I gave everything until the end, and it was the right thing to do.