"Second place is great, but first would have been better" - Lenny Martinez sees maiden Tour victory snatched by Pogacar
CyclingSaturday, 25 July 2026 at 03:00
Lenny Martinez was one of the heroes of Friday's Tour de France stage 19. The young Frenchman finally cast aside conservativeness and joined the day's breakaway eyeing move up in the general classification and, who knows, perhaps a stage win.
The Bahrain - Victorious leader entered the stage as seventh overall, setting up an attack to enter the overall top-5 tightly protected by Lidl-Trek duo Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose. But when the leading group entered Alpe d'Huez with four-minute advantage, Martinez's chances improved massively.
"Honestly, it was a good opportunity to get ahead," Lenny Martinez said at the finish. "I'd been letting attacks go for several stages, I saw a big group go and I thought, 'Why not?' Then the group took me far ahead."
The good news for Martinez was that fifth overall Juan Ayuso continued on a downward trajectory and lost over six minutes at the finish line, dropping all the way to seventh overall. His teammate Mattias Skjelmose held on with the main group of favourites, but still lost 2:45 to Pogacar and remains sixth overall, nine seconds behind Martinez.
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For a long time, it seemed as though breakaway could emerge victorious from the endless crowds on Alpe d'Huez, despite Pogacar's early attack. The Frenchman held an epic battle with Richard Carapaz, but both were ultimately caught and passed by the flying Slovenian in the last kilometer.
"I was just aiming for a breakaway, not a stage win right away. Second place is great, but first would have been better," Martinez admitted.
When Pogacar passed the Frenchman, he hung on. Even through his first acceleration. But ultimately lost contact under flamme rouge as Richard Carapaz cracked first:
"Tadej was too strong. I saw Tadej go by and I got on his wheel. He rode incredibly hard, but I managed to hang on. Then Carapaz cracked before me, so I'm a bit disappointed because I could have stayed with him."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Guy in white is the problem.PaulB8tson25-07-2026
- His main problem is his attitude. He was visibly angry when he crossed the line, just ahead the incredible Carapaz.Hills3325-07-2026
- If you wheel suck all the way then you have no reason to complainabstractengineer25-07-2026
- nobody is refusing tests, everybody is asking about the threshold to test between 11 pm to 6am. Strong evidence that will result in a positive test. that is the bar. Why coz disrupting sleep will affect performance badly. It goes against the spirit and rules. I expect Jonas and Pogi to test positiveabstractengineer25-07-2026
- I heard a gossip that Pogi wakes up every morning thinking about: "Who can I give a stage win today? ... He gave it to DelToro, Remco, Carapaz and maybe now it's time for Seixas or Martinez. It's gift-giving time, Christmas bells are ringing early this year :))mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales25-07-2026
- people will do everything to discredit his performances but good for him for showing the haters wrong after everyone saying he'd be dropped first mountain stage and that DT and seixas would destroy himbruins3025-07-2026
- that's not what he said . . .mij25-07-2026
- You didn't deserve it Lenny, you just let kuss and carapaz do all the job but you want to reap their hard work rewardZamorano25-07-2026
- If he could have stayed with Pogačar he could have come around Carapaz. And if he had contributed earlier in the climb it’s possible the trio would have made it to the finish without being caught. As it is, a solid second on a brutal day.RidesHills25-07-2026
- Excuse me but I think Pogy is not the most popular person in Slovenia but is Jan Plestenjak and Janez Janša,Pogy is only in third position, yes firmly but stil third...
Merxisnotthegoat25-07-2026
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