Dead last on stage 1 of the 2025 Tour de France, up-and-coming French climber Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) cast a woebegone figure at the end of the opening day’s racing, crossing the line just ahead of the broom wagon alone and more than nine minutes down on stage winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Martinez continued in the race on stage 2, telling the official Tour de France website before the start that “Yesterday [stage 1] was really tough, I hope today will go better.”
Bahrain Victorious have never said Martinez was their overall contender, focussing their GC hopes exclusively on Colombian Santiago Buitrago, with Martinez riding as a support climber. That was indirectly confirmed when the Frenchman lost contact on stage 1, as TV images did not show any support riders dropping back to help him, like teams would automatically usually do with their overall contender.
The last group or riders to cross the line ahead of Martinez finished 6:31 down on stage winner Philipsen, and then the French climber himself was nearly a further three minutes adrift by the time he concluded the day’s racing.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…