Today is Alex Martín who grabs the Boucles de la Mayenne’s polka dot jersey for Polti Kometa

The importance of being Martín. It’s not a Shakespearean comedy, but the summary of the first two road stages of the Boucles de la Mayenne as far as Team Polti Kometa is concerned. Yesterday David broke away and wore the polka dot jersey after conquering all the KOMs. Today it was the turn of his namesake Alex, more of a climber and therefore more suited to the most challenging stage of the short French race: the 24-year-old Catalan hit the day’s action along with 5 other men and was the first to pass in 6 of the 7 KOMs scattered along the long route.

Only in the last lap of the circuit in Villaines-la-Juhel, less than 10 km from the finish, the leaders (by then became 8) were caught by the attack of Bettiol (EF) and in the sprint behind the winner Javier Serrano, the best placed of Polti Kometa finishing 13th. However, there is a strongly negative note: David Martín himself fell victim to a nasty crash 80 km from the finish, fracturing a collarbone.

Alex Martín: “Today was the day that offered the most points for the climbers’ classification and I didn’t let the opportunity slip away. There was perfect harmony with my breakaway companions and later a couple of strong riders joined us, which allowed us to proceed together until the last côte des Égoutelles. At this point I want to wear this jersey all the way, tomorrow on the road to Laval there will be three KOMs.”

The sports director (together with Giovanni Ellena) Biagio Conte: “Before commenting on the stage, let’s send a message of closeness to David for the injury he suffered today. Then Alex was very good at joining the right attack and the guys behind him moved in the right way in the peloton. In the circuit some fast wheels were naturally delayed, but in the end we stayed ahead with Diego Sevilla helping Serrano.”