{"id":195106,"date":"2024-02-29T11:43:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T11:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=195106"},"modified":"2024-02-29T11:45:06","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T11:45:06","slug":"lenny-martinez-continues-spring-success-by-winning-trofeo-laigueglia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/02\/29\/lenny-martinez-continues-spring-success-by-winning-trofeo-laigueglia\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenny Martinez Continues Spring Success by Winning Trofeo Laigueglia"},"content":{"rendered":"

This has been an excellent spring for the new generation of young riders, those 22 years of age and younger. The 20-year-old Mexican Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) has impressed with his bold riding and ability, as he finished third in the Down Under Classic, third in the Santos Down Under and an impressive fourth in the Volta ao Algarve time trial behind the likes of Remco Evenepoel and Magnus Sheffield and ahead of Filippo Ganna.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Great spring for young riders and Martinez<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The 19-year-old French Soudal\u2013Quick-Step rider Paul Magnier won a stage in the Tour of Oman and finished third in the points classification. In the same race, 22-year-old Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates) won the points classification and finished third in the GC. And last Sunday, 22-year-old Lennart Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) came from ninth place in the GC standings to win the UAE Tour with a thrilling display of climbing in the final 1800m of the last stage of the race, snatching victory out of the jaws of Ben O\u2019Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) by 2 seconds.<\/p>\n

So it shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise that another young rider, 20-year-old Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), won Wednesday\u2019s one-day Trofeo Laigueglia ahead of such riders as Juan Ayuso, Marc Hirschi (both UAE Team Emirates) and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost). But this was less of a surprise because the young Frenchman had already attracted notice in the 2022 Giro Ciclistico d’Italia<\/a>, or \u201cBaby Giro,\u201d when he won the King of the Mountain jersey, and again last year, when he briefly held the race leader\u2019s red jersey in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He won Laigueglia by riding away from a five-rider breakaway near the top of the penultimate climb, the Colla Micheri (2km at 8.2%), with 9.3km to go in the 202km race. He increased his lead on the descent with some daring riding and then held off another young rider, 19-year-old Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates), who closed to within 100m of the Frenchman on the flats. But Martinez powered away on the race\u2019s final climb, the Capo Mele (2km @3.4km), as Christen and the other pursuers had to content themselves with fighting for the lesser podium finishes. Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale won the sprint for second, finishing 29 seconds behind Martinez and just a whisker ahead of the hard-charging Ayuso, who made up a lot of ground in the last 500m.<\/p>\n

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#TrofeoLaigueglia2024<\/a> | \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9\ud83d\udeb4\ud83c\udfc6\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf4Santiago Umba, el mejor colombiano en el Trofeo Laigueglia \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9\ud83d\udeb4\ud83c\udfc6\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9\ud83d\udeb4\ud83d\udcaa\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf4\ud83d\udc4f#VamosEscarabajos<\/a> #Ciclismo<\/a> #Italia<\/a> #TrofeoLaigueglia<\/a> @il_Laigueglia<\/a> @umbasanti<\/a> @AstanaQazTeam<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/uQnov9F1dB<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/udwKKDkMv9<\/a><\/p>\n

— Mundo Cicl\u00edstico (@mundociclistico) February 28, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n