Victories in the mountains
But Martínez did what he does best. Is he a top stage-racer? No. But he doesn’t have to be, he is a top climber, and one that was more consistent this year. At Paris-Nice it was feasible that he would show himself as a GC rider, but on the windy and rainy stage 6 he lost a lot of time and then on the final day he once again showed his fragility. But elsewhere? The Frenchman won stage 5’s ultra-steep finish, was fourth at La Loge des Gardes and then – although he didn’t win the stage, this was for the breakaway – he was the second fastest in the climb up to Auron and was on the attack together with another pure climber, Felix Gall.
A week later at the Volta a Catalunya he would go on to finish fifth in the overall classification, with two fourth places in the mountain stages making it clear that under the right circumstances, the overall classification is his priority. The classics could see him ride well too, he finished fourth at Flèche Wallonne, which mostly came at a surprise as his physique is not one that ordinarily handles the cold and wet weather well. A week later he would finish second at the Tour de Romandie, winning the queen stage over João Almeida but losing the yellow jersey in the final time trial – where he finished an impressive 13th place, despite likely being the lightest rider in the race.
Martínez’ traditional style of racing continued at the Criterium du Dauphiné, where he was absent from most of the race and fell out of GC, but then stormed through in the final stage, joining the day’s breakaway and winning on Mont-Cenis, being the only rider to withstand the surge of Jonas Vingegaard behind – Tadej Pogacar did not try, otherwise that stage win would’ve been jeopardized.
Martínez won over João Almeida at the Tour de Romandie’s queen stage. @Sirotti
Best of the rest at the Tour
At the Tour de France Martínez didn’t start with the goal of a GC, which was wise. Instead, full focus on the KOM jersey, secondary on stage wins. I think ultimately he sacrificed his chance to win a stage because of his KOM ambitions, which led him to spend a lot of energy in a lot of moments where a stage winner wouldn’t ordinarily do so. But this felt like the right tactic, as he was going to take this jersey – one year after the nonsensical last-minute Tour selection that Groupama-FDJ decided on after learning of his departure.
But Martínez suffered the faith of what non-GC riders suffer most time now at the Tour. No matter how much you pursuit KOM points, the system wildly favours the GC riders.
But the 22-year old’s season still had a strong finale, with a good third place at the Giro dell’Emilia and a victory at the Japan Cup cementing a year of adaptation, and one in which he’s become a clear leader in his new team. He jumped into the lead of the classification on stage 10, but lost it on stage 16 to Tadej Pogacar. In the end he finished third, behind Pogacar and Vingegaard. But neither ride were actually trying to get this jersey, and Pogacar’s conservative behaviour meant he was legitimately not having it in mind even as a secondary goal. Martínez settled for a third place but was, on paper, the best of the KOM hunters. In a different Grand Tour the same strategy would’ve yearned better results.
Martínez’ move to Bahrain cemented his evolution as a pure climber, one of the few ultra-lightweight climbers in the peloton who performs at the highest level. I think aiming for GC at the Tour wasn’t realistic and although he didn’t particularly performed as a GC rider during the year, his many wins and strong performances make the season a success and a good evolution for a rider whom it’s easy to forget is still only 22 years old.
Martínez earned his time as the KOM leader at the Tour de France, but was then beaten by two riders who weren’t even trying. @Sirotti