Daniel Martinez (Bora Hansgrohe) departed from Arpago on Saturday morning and nurtured a vague notion of trying to win the penultimate stage of the Giro d'Italia, but Maglia Rosa Tadei Poganyal (UAE Team Emirates) was 6km from the summit of Montegrappa. As he accelerated the shade below, he immediately took the idea out of his head.

Not the first time in this giro, Poganyal was completely in his own department. Martinez immediately focused his attention on competing with men in his own weight class in order to get the right to accompany Poganyar on the podium in Rome on Sunday.

"I started with the idea of trying to win the stage, but Pogagnal was incredible," Martinez said when he stopped at Viale delle Fosse in Bassano del Grappa. "He was in a spectacular state, and the moment he attacked, no one could follow."

Martinez was already in 2nd place overall before the day began, but when Welshman, just 22 seconds into his old Ineos Grenadier teammate Geraint Thomas, lost ground upstream of Monte Grappa, Martinez had the opportunity to secure a firmer grasp on the second step of the podium. I felt it. He found allies of the situation in the form of Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain victory), who was riding to secure the best young rider white jersey.

"I saw Thomas let go of the wheel, so when Tiberi attacked, I went with him. We both worked together because we were interested in buying time," Martínez said. 

"I was trying to put more time into Thomas, but I couldn't manage it. We gave everything, but on the descent he caught us in a group."

At that point, with a long drop to Bassano del Grappa, a kind of detente occurred in the chasing group behind Poganyar. They came on stage at 2:07 and Martinez sprinted to third place on stage. 

Thus, the Colombians rode to Rome on Sunday and were in 2nd place overall, lagging 9:56 to Pogagnal, who had no rivals from the moment this race left Turin.

For Martinez, 2nd place had hinted during his time at Ineos, offering confirmation of the Grand Tour promise he showed by winning at the Dauphine's Criterium in 2020. 3 years ago, for example, Martinez was ranked 5th overall in the Giro, but his main role in the race was to lead compatriot Egan Bernal to victory.

On that occasion, Martinez steadied towards Bernal at the Sega Diara and again at the Alpe Motta to commemorate the ship. But when given his own leadership, Martinez tended to flounder. He started in a free position in 2022, but soon dropped out of the GC fight and devoted himself to housework for Thomas.

Martinez traded Ineos for Bora-Hansgrohe in the winter with the aim of exploring his own potential as a grand Tour leader, but he must have had doubts when the German team later signed Primoš Logric. Jai Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov have built the season around working for Roglić on the tour, but martínez could serve as a gorgeous domestique on May 7 – the freedom to lead in Giro

when Martinez kept the loss down despite the gear being jammed, Oro said. I was hit by several accidents in this giro, including the first summit finish in Paris. The only obvious setback came in the Desenzano del Garda Time Trial, where he easily admitted second place to Thomas, but he seized it back to the steep summit finish at Montepana on stage 16. 

"There were a lot of tough moments and there were always a lot of tough moments, but I think I disguised them well," Martinez said.

The 28-year-old's success in the week-long stage race has long contrasted with his tendency to suffer a blighted off-day on the grand Tour. The fact that Martinez managed to stay on the course in almost 10 minutes at Pogagnar was proof that the 3-week race was actually within his range.

"I've worked very hard for this. Sometimes things went well, sometimes things didn't go as we wanted, but that's the purpose of life, to continue and to persevere," Martinez said. "There are riders like Nairo [Quintana] who are always there from the beginning in the top 3 in the 10-week race. I'm going with my own rhythm, but I'm getting there."

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