Traditional lieutenant of Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic, Sepp Kuss performed a recital this Thursday between La Vall d’Uixo and Javalambre, in Aragon. The American from Jumbo-Visma, lined up for the Tour of Spain after having already competed in the Tours of Italy and France, won alone at the top of Pico del Buitre. But as good chauvinists, we will especially remember from this 6th stage of the Vuelta the performance of the young Frenchman Lenny Martinez, new leader of the race.
At 20 years old, the great hope of Groupama-FDJ finished second this Thursday, 26 seconds behind Kuss and 5 seconds ahead of his compatriot Romain Bardet. The trio were part of a breakaway of 42 riders who spent more than 100 km at the front of the race. Martinez, who is competing in his first Grand Tour, had already finished 7th in the stage on Monday, in Arinsal (Andorra). The new wearer of the red jersey is 8 seconds ahead of Kuss in the general standings.
“It’s incredible, the Vuelta is already a success,” reacted on Eurosport this heir to a great family of cyclists, including his grandfather Mariano Martinez, best climber of the Tour de France (1978) and double stage winner on the Grande Boucle (1978 and 1980), and his father Miguel, Olympic mountain bike champion in Sydney, in 2000. I never normally take a breakaway. As the race progressed, I saw a group in the distance and I did the “jump”. The whole team protected me, it’s thanks to them. »
The good operation of the Jumbo-Visma
Beyond this performance, the Jumbo-Visma formation is the big winner of this 6th stage. Roglic and Vingegaard, who finished in the same time, gained a lead over their competitors, in particular Remco Evenepoel, relegated to 32 seconds behind the two leaders of the Dutch team.