Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe, Martínez and birthday twins Van Dijke briefly feared the worst

The 29-year-old Colombian had manoeuvred himself into an excellent position during the early stages of the French race. After a strong team time trial from Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe on day three, a chaotic crosswind stage created major gaps in the standings. Martínez was perfectly placed and suddenly found himself second overall, with roughly two and a half minutes over the rider in third place.

Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe had emptied the tank in the crosswinds on stage four. Brothers Tim and Mick van Dijke played a key role, sacrificing a possible chance at the stage victory in order to make a decisive move in the general classification. That effort ultimately helped Jonas Vingegaard take advantage and win the stage. The Dane from Visma | Lease a Bike would later go on to fight for the overall victory.

Martínez had built such a large buffer that he managed to hold on to second place in the overall standings all the way to the final day. On stage five he finished with the first chasing group behind Vingegaard, and he was also solid in stage six. After stage seven was heavily disrupted by snow and barely resembled a normal race day, he only needed to survive the final stage.

Things were going smoothly for a long time — until suddenly they were not. With around 50 kilometres to go, Martínez unexpectedly crashed into the roadside verge and lay on the ground in pain for a moment. Eventually he managed to reconnect with teammates Laurence Pithie, Aleksandr Vlasov and Mick van Dijke, who happened to be celebrating his birthday that Sunday — just like his twin brother Tim. From that moment on, the trio had the difficult task of riding full gas to the finish while defending Martínez’s advantage of 2 minutes and 28 seconds.

Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe once again produced a monumental team effort and, remarkably, Martínez finished only 51 seconds behind stage winner Lenny Martinez. Because the first chasing group — including his rivals for the podium — crossed the line seven seconds behind that, the Colombian ultimately stayed on the right side of the standings.

After crossing the finish line, the adrenaline wore off and Martínez briefly cried out in pain. Following a quick check and a chance to recover, the smile soon returned as he stepped onto the podium with Vingegaard and third-placed Georg Steinhauser (EF Education–EasyPost). The team’s performance underlined that their earlier tactical choice had been the right one: going all-in for the general classification during the crosswind stage, even if that meant sacrificing a potential stage win.

With a third place in Tirreno–Adriatico thanks to Pellizzari and a second place in Paris–Nice through Martínez, the team’s Chief of Sports could only express satisfaction in a press release from Red Bull. “We were present at the front all week, we went for ambitious plans and we really raced. That is the result of a winter of hard work from everyone to be ready for moments like this. We can be proud.”

And Martínez himself? He was mainly relieved, happy and grateful. “It was a strong week from the whole team. Everyone did an incredible job. Unfortunately I crashed on the last day. I tried to move up in the bunch, but the pace was high and I hit the ground hard on my ribs and arm. For a moment I thought I might have to abandon, but thanks to the help of my teammates I was able to finish.”