Published on : 11/05/2020
By taking the lead on 3 of the 5 difficulties of the day, the leader of the Cofidis team has scored valuable points in the mountain classification. He is mathematically sure to keep his polka-dot jersey until Madrid on Sunday. Another show of bravery.
Guillaume Martin once again was restless. A rider who, despite a completely different season, managed to stay constantly at the highest level until the very end. He has shown it again this Thursday by being one of the main leaders of this 15th stage.
Lafay has tried, Martin has achieved
This long stage of 230,8 km between Cros and Puebla de Sanabria looked like a classic race with rain and wind sweeping the road. However, not enough to weaken the determination of the Cofidis riders. The day after the breakaway of Pierre-Luc Périchon, it was Victor Lafay who was among the first to attack. He was soon joined by Luis Angel Maté in the breakaway.
55 points ahead of Tim Wellens
Guillaume Martin attacked next and pocketed the points at the top of San Amaro (3 points). He is once again the first to lead at the top of the next three difficulties, the Alto de Carcedo (3 pts), the Alto do Furriolo (3 pts), the Alto de Fumaces (3 pts) then 3rd at the Alto del Padornelo (1 pts). Thanks to this amazing performance, the leader of the Cofidis team is mathematically sure to keep his polka dot jersey. He is 55 pts ahead of Tim Wellens with only 53 pts left to be distributed in the next stages.
Tomorrow, the stage between Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo will also be hilly with two climbs of 2nd and 1st category. Guillaume Martin will be able to ride with a little bit of calmness.
GUILLAUME MARTIN SAID...
"It was a long and tiring stage. The breakaway took around 60 kilometres to form. I made a lot of effort to try to integrate it. After the first climb, it was difficult to find the space to attack and it took me a lot of effort to get back to the breakaway. But I had a good feeling and that allowed me to secure the polka-dot jersey and I am very happy about that.
I am also frustrated that the breakaway has been caught back. If we had worked a little bit better together, we would have been able to increase the gap to the peloton. But with the front wind, it was really complicated. After that, I didn't have time to go down to take a K-way and that made it difficult for me to finish the stage because of the wind and the rain. Now, I will try to recover well to see what I can do next, now that the jersey is secured".