Lenny Martinez produced another outstanding performance in the high mountains to finish second on Stage 19 of the Tour de France atop the legendary Alpe d’Huez, moving up two places in the general classification to fifth overall.

The Frenchman joined the day’s early breakaway, which formed as the battle for both the Maillot Vert and the King of the Mountains classification unfolded. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) accelerated to collect maximum points at the intermediate sprint, while current polka dot jersey wearer Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) fought for valuable mountain points before the break established a significant advantage.

Bahrain Victorious placed two riders in the move, with Martinez joined by teammate Antonio Tiberi as the break built an advantage of around four minutes over the Yellow Jersey group. As the race reached the foot of Alpe d’Huez, the leaders still held an advantage of approximately 3:15.

As the climb unfolded, Martinez emerged as one of the strongest riders in the breakaway. Alongside Carapaz and Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike), he proved to be one of the final survivors from the day’s escape, but behind them the Yellow Jersey group was rapidly closing the gap. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) launched his acceleration from the lower slopes of Alpe d’Huez, bridging across to the leading trio and erasing the breakaway’s advantage.

Carapaz attempted to resist the race leader’s acceleration, while Martinez immediately latched onto Pogačar’s wheel and matched the initial surge. The Bahrain Victorious rider fought bravely alongside the Slovenian, but one final attack from Pogačar in the closing kilometres proved decisive as the Yellow Jersey rode clear to victory.

Martinez dug deep over the final ramps to outsprint Carapaz for second place on the stage, capping another exceptional climbing performance. His result saw him move up two places in the general classification to fifth overall, climbing above Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) by just nine seconds heading into the final mountain stage.

Lenny Martinez

“It wasn’t in the plan for me to go in the breakaway. I just saw a big group going clear and thought it was better to be at the front than back in the bunch.

Then I started thinking about how Tadej beat me in Switzerland, and today I wanted to get my revenge. But I should have known how strong he was. We had a four-minute advantage at the bottom of the climb, which is a lot, and we were climbing really fast, but in the end he was simply too strong.

It’s a bit disappointing to miss out on the stage win, but I’m sure my day will come.

I was only thinking about the general classification, but then on the final climb more about the stage victory. Anyway, it was nice to have a gap. Despite the huge crowds, it actually felt safer than I expected. I had some friends on the climb. I didn’t manage to see them, but I’m sure they enjoyed seeing me at the front, so that makes me happy.

Tomorrow is another climbing day to Alpe d’Huez. It was a hard stage today, but finishing second is still a good result for the team. Against Tadej, there wasn’t much more we could do.”

Sports Director Roman Kreuziger

“I wasn’t surprised to see Lenny in the breakaway because it was one of the scenarios we discussed on the rest day. We knew there was a good chance the break would form around the intermediate sprint, with Mads fighting for the green jersey creating an opportunity. As we’ve seen throughout this final week, the racing has really exploded around those points. Richard Carapaz was also there with teammates fighting for the polka dot jersey, and the break quickly gained a significant advantage.

What did surprise me was seeing other teams commit to chasing the break. They were quite a long way behind, but perhaps they were concerned about Carapaz moving up in the classifications. At this stage of the Tour, every jersey and every position matters, so everyone is playing their own game.

I think Lenny is capable of climbing even faster on his own, but with the riders around you have to be tactical. In the end, to be beaten only by Tadej Pogačar is nothing to be disappointed about. You’re not the first rider to lose to him, you’ve beaten everyone else.

If someone had told us a week ago that Lenny would be sitting fifth overall heading into the final mountain stage, we would happy. It’s not a comfortable position because there are still riders close to us, but we have every reason to be happy with where we are and confident going into the final stage.”