2024 Trofeo Laigueglia (1.Pro), Italy

61st edition: Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Complete results

Trofeo Laigueglia podium history | 2023 edition | Map & profile | Photos | Start list

Laigueglia - Laigueglia, 202 km

Lenny Martinez can sit up and enjoy his solo win. Sirotti photo

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Weather at the start/finish city of Laigueglia at 1:35 PM, local time: 14C (58F), mostly cloudy, with the wind from the north at 27 km/hr (18 mph). There is a 3% chance of rain.

The race: Here's the report from winner Lenny Martinez's Team Groupama-FDJ.

The 2024 season is definitely off to a flying start for Lenny Martinez. After a victorious return to competition on the Classic Var, then a successful week on O Gran Camiño (2nd behind Jonas Vingegaard), the young climber from the Groupama-FDJ cycling team took his second win of the season on Wednesday.

On the Trofeo Laigueglia, the opening race of the Italian calendar, he got rid of his last opponents in the final lap of the circuit to conquer his first professional solo victory, his third in total, and the fourth of the team this season. Also in the front today, Romain Grégoire finished eleventh.

On the Ligurian coast this Wednesday, it was time for the Italian season to begin. As usual, the Trofeo Laigueglia was due to open the calendar, with the equally usual circuit including the Colla Micheri (2km at 8%) and the Capo Mele. An event in which Romain Grégoire took sixth place in 2023, and where the Frenchman was back this year with Lenny Martinez. The Groupama-FDJ cycling team therefore lined up two clear leaders, who had devoted teammates around them, notably Thibaud Gruel and Max Bock, members of “La Conti”. The latter were the ones who had to work first, on the first two thirds of the race, during which a breakaway of five men took the lead.

“Our goal was for Lenny and Romain to get on the circuit to fight for the win, and that’s what happened,” explained Thierry Bricaud. “The guys did a lot of work all day to allow them to get there in the best conditions and to be able to fight on equal terms with the best.” Forty kilometers from the finish, the bunch tackled the first ascent of Colla Micheri. It was already reduced to around fifty men at the top, and a lap later, only ten men or so were still able to follow the frantic tempo of UAE Team Emirates. Among them: Romain Grégoire and Lenny Martinez. “In the first two laps, it was just about the legs,” confirmed Thierry.

It was only with about twenty-five kilometres to go that the race started to be tactical. In the portion between Colla Micheri and Capo Mele, several attacks occurred, Romain Grégoire followed a few of them, but it was ultimately Lenny Martinez who managed to sneak in front within a group of seven riders. “Romain and Lenny knew very well that we could not be one step behind UAE,” recalled Thierry. “Lenny did very well, going out with Christen. Having this small lead allowed Romain to just have to follow Ayuso if there were moves behind. It was important.” “The idea was to play on both cards,” Lenny added. “Since I was in front, Romain could let the others do the work in the back.”

However, very quickly, the leading group took a nice gap of thirty seconds. On the penultimate climb of Colla Micheri, Lenny Martinez then produced several accelerations and reduced the group to just five riders. “I wanted to go up fast, and I thought that Ayuso and Romain would come back from behind, which would have allowed me to gamble with Romain,” said the French climber. “In the end, it didn’t happen.” The chasing group came back to just fifteen seconds, but their bad collaboration made it possible for the gap to double before the final ascent of the Colla Micheri, twelve kilometers from the finish.

This time around, Lenny Martinez was more conservative. “He gave a bit too much in the penultimate climb,” explained Thierry. “He managed his effort in the following lap, and he knew he shouldn’t do the same thing on the last climb. He felt the right time, he only made one attack, but a strong one. He didn’t stop and that made the difference.” Approaching the summit, the French climber launched a first sharp acceleration which eliminated almost all his competitors, with the exception of Jan Christen, who unsuccessfully tried to counterattack him. Then, shortly before the descent, Lenny Martinez left it all on the road and managed to open a gap.

“I attacked right at the top, I went at full speed in the downhill, and at the bottom, I had about ten seconds,” he said. “The descent was very technical, almost dangerous,” explained Thierry. “You needed good skills, and that’s not a problem at all for Lenny.” The Groupama-FDJ rider then started the last six kilometres with a very small margin, which narrowed even more as he approached Capo Mele. “At the foot, Christen came back to five seconds, but Lenny knew that his finish was at the top of Capo Mele,” said Thierry. “Christen gave everything to try to come back but then exploded, and Lenny made the difference.” “In the final, it was really a time trial to the finish, a real man-to-man,” added Lenny. “Luckily there was this little hill. I thought he was going to come across, but I gave everything and made the most of my climbing skills.”

The 4% slopes were enough for him to defeat his last rival, who was also caught by a chasing group in the descent. There, Lenny Martinez made sure no one was chasing him and could finally celebrate in the last two hundred metres. “It’s really incredible,” said the young man after his second win of the year. “I think it’s the best feeling when you’re doing a solo effort, with a guy behind who shouldn’t come back, and that you eventually finish alone. I can’t quite believe it yet. I’m super happy to win, but even more so solo. It makes things more beautiful.” “Lenny was flying,” smiled Thierry. “The Trofeo Laigueglia is a nice race to add to a prize list. It also confirms his excellent start to the season. Winner of the Classic Var, second in O Gran Camiño and winner at Laigueglia, that’s not bad at 20 years old!“

Behind him, Romain Grégoire obtained eleventh place on the line, therefore concluding a superb team race. “The team did a great job, as usual,” explained the day’s winner. “We had one of the youngest teams at the start, but I told them that youth was not a question, and that they had the skills and the legs to be at the required level,” concluded Thierry. “We raced without fear, but that’s what they do all the time. It also kicks off the Italian campaign well and puts everyone on the right track. We continue with the momentum from our start to the season, it’s very good.”

Complete results:

Photos

202 kilometers raced at an average speed of 38.950 km/hr

1	Lenny Martinez	Groupama-FDJ	5hr 11min 10sec
2	Andrea Vendrame	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	@ 29sec
3	Juan Ayuso	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
4	Cristian Scaroni	Astana Qazaqstan	s.t.
5	Jan Christen	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
6	Darren Rafferty	EF Education-EasyPost	0:31
7	Louis Barré	Arkea-B&B Hotels	0:53
8	Simone Velasco	Astana Qazaqstan	0:57
9	Paul Lapeira	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
10	Lorenzo Rota	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
11	Romain Grégoire	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
12	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
13	Archie Ryan	EF Education-EasyPost	1:15
14	Marc Hirschi	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
15	Alberto Bettiol	EF Education-EasyPost	1:19
16	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
17	Vincenzo Albanese	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
18	Fernando Barceló	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
19	Davide De Pretto	Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
20	Thomas Pesenti	JCL Team UKYO	s.t.
21	Nans Peters	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
22	Joel Nicolau	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
23	Axel Mariault	Cofidis	s.t.
24	Lucas Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
25	Lorenzo Fortunato	Astana Qazaqstan	s.t.
26	Alessandro Pinarello	VF Group-Bardiani CSF	s.t.
27	Luca Cavallo	Team Technipes #InEmiliaRomagna	s.t.
28	Filippo Zana	Jayco-AlUla	1:21
29	Francesco Busatto	Intermarché-Wanty	1:26
30	Reuben Thompson	Groupama-FDJ	1:26
31	Rudy Porter	Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
32	Roland Thalmann	Tudor Pro Cycling	1:47
33	Joan Bou	Euskaltel-Euskadi	1:54
34	Floris De Tier	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
35	James Shaw	EF Education-EasyPost	2:30
36	Alessandro Covi	UAE Team Emirates	2:56
37	Stefano Oldani	Cofidis	s.t.
38	Davide Bais	Polti Kometa	s.t.
39	Simone Gualdi	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
40	Andrea Piccolo	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
41	Giovanni Carboni	JCL Team UKYO	s.t.
42	Davide Gabburo	VF Group-Bardiani CSF	s.t.
43	Lukas Nerurkar	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
44	Jonathan Lastra	Cofidis	s.t.
45	Ludovico Crescioli	Team Technipes #InEmiliaRomagna	s.t.
46	Iker Mintegi	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
47	Sylvain Moniquet	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
48	Matteo Ambrosini	MBH Bank Colpack Ballan	s.t.
49	Clément Champoussin	Arkea-B&B Hotels	2:58
50	Davide Piganzoli	Polti Kometa	3:00
51	Alessandro Verre	Arkea-B&B Hotels	3:03
52	Gianmarco Garofoli	Astana Qazaqstan	4:54
53	Emanuele Ansaloni	Team Technipes #InEmiliaRomagna	5:04
54	Alessandro De Marchi	Jayco-AlUla	5:06
55	Davide Donati	Biesse-Carrera	5:36
56	Davide Baldaccini	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
57	Lorenzo Quartucci	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
58	Davide De Cassan	Polti Kometa	s.t.
59	Nariyuki Masuda	JCL Team UKYO	s.t.
60	Filippo Baroncini	UAE Team Emirates	6:31
61	Eduard Prades	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
62	Luca Covili	VF Group-Bardiani CSF	s.t.
63	Joseba Lopez	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
64	Jonathan Caicedo	Petrolike	6:34
65	Louka Matthys	Bingoal-WB	6:36
66	Marco Tizza	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
67	Thomas Silva	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	6:48
68	Santiago Umba	Astana Qazaqstan	s.t.
69	Masaki Yamamoto	JCL Team UKYO	s.t.
70	Nicoló Arrighetti	Biesse-Carrera	s.t.
71	Jaume Guardeño	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
72	Ben Granger	MG.K Vis-Colors for Peace	s.t.
73	Gleb Brussenskiy	Astana Qazaqstan	s.t.
74	Andrea Innocenti	Team Technipes #InEmiliaRomagna	s.t.
75	Kristian Sbaragli	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
76	Francesco Galimberti	Biesse-Carrera	s.t.
77	Domenico Cirlincione	General Store-Essegibi-F.Ili Curia	s.t.
78	Francisco Muñoz	Polti Kometa	s.t.
79	Lorenzo Germani	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
80	Diego Camargo	Petrolike	s.t.
81	Manuele Tarozzi	VF Group-Bardiani CSF	s.t.
82	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
83	Rafal Majka	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
84	Jacob Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
85	Michel Ries	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
86	Simone Petilli	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
87	Pavel Novak	MBH Bank Colpack Ballan	s.t.
88	Vicente Rojas	VF Group-Bardiani CSF	s.t.
89	Lorenzo Masciarelli	MBH Bank Colpack Ballan	s.t.
90	Xabier Isasa	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
91	Arjen Livyns	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
92	Xabier Berasategi	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
93	Mikel Iturria	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
94	Gotzon Martín	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
95	Jarno Widar	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
96	Francesco Carollo	MG.K Vis-Colors for Peace	s.t.
97	Cyril Barthe	Groupama-FDJ	10:58
98	Pier Elis Belletta	Work Service-Vitalcare-Dynatek	s.t.

 

2024 Trofeo Laigueglia map & profile:

Laigueglia is just northeast of San Remo, near the border with France.

Course map

Course profile

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2024 Trofeo Laigueglia photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:

Starting ceremonies. Team MBH Bank - Colpack Ballan is presented

Here's Team Jayco-AlUla

Team Lotto Dstny

Japanese road champion Masaki Yamamoto

It's time to race. The riders are about to be given their start signal.

The peloton gets rolling through the beach city of Laigueglia.

A lot of Groupama-FDJ blue at the front of the peloton.

What a lovely place for a bicycle race. At the bottom of the picture are spectators watching the riders get up the Colla Micheri.

Lenny Martinez leads a small group on the Colla Micheri, which was climbed four times.

Italian champion Simone Velasco on the Micheri.

Here are Rafal Majka and Marc Hirschi leading on the Colla Micheri

Riders getting up the Colla Micheri

Rafal Majka

A lone Lenny Martinez rounds the final corner and heads for home.

Lenny Martinez has pulled off a brilliant win.

Andrea Vendrame, Cristian Scaroni and Juan Aysuo sprint for second.

EF Education-EasyPost rider Alberto Bettiol (on far left) leads the sprint for 15th.

Lenny Martinez just after the race.

Third-place Juan Ayuso.

The podium, from left: Andrea Vendrame (2nd), Lenny Martinez (1st) & Juan Ayuso (3rd).

And winner Lenny Martinez

 

Start list with back numbers, Feb 27, 2024:

	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale
1	Nans Peters
2	Andrea Vendrame
3	Jaakko Hänninen
4	Jordan Labrosse
5	Paul Lapeira
6	Baptiste Veistroffer
7	Benoît Cosnefroy
	UAE Team Emirates
11	Filippo Baroncini
12	Jan Christen
13	Alessandro Covi
14	Juan Ayuso
15	Marc Hirschi
16	Rafal Majka
	Intermarché-Wanty
21	Francesco Busatto
22	Simone Gualdi
23	Georg Zimmermann
24	Simone Petilli
25	Lorenzo Rota
26	Dion Smith
27	Rein Taaramäe
	Arkea-B&B Hotels
31	Louis Barré
32	Vincenzo Albanese
34	Clément Champoussin
35	Ewen Costiou
36	Michel Ries
37	Alessandro Verre
	Groupama-FDJ
41	Lorenzo Germani
42	Romain Grégoire
43	Lenny Martinez
44	Cyril Barthe
45	Reuben Thompson
46	Max Bock
47	Thibaud Gruel
	EF Education-Easypost
51	Alberto Bettiol
52	Lukas Nerurkar
53	Andrea Piccolo
54	Darren Rafferty
55	Archie Ryan
56	James Shaw
57	Yuhi Todome
	Cofidis
61	Jesus Herrada
62	Thomas Champion
63	Stefano Oldani
64	Simon Geschke
65	Jonathan Lastra
66	Axel Mariault
67	Harrison Wood
	Astana Qazaqstan
71	Simone Velasco
72	Gleb Brussenskiy
73	Santiago Umba
74	Lorenzo Fortunato
75	Gianmarco Garofoli
76	Cristian Scaroni
77	Nicolas Vinokurov
	Jayco-Alula
81	Welay Berhe
83	Alessandro De Marchi
84	Davide De Pretto
85	Felix Engelhardt
86	Rudy Porter
87	Filippo Zana
	Bingoal-WB
91	Marco Tizza
92	Floris De Tier
93	Noah Detalle
94	Lucas Jacques
95	Louka Matthys
96	Dimitri Peyskens
97	Aaron Van Der Beken
	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
101	Fernando Barceló
102	Jaume Guardeño
103	Joseba Lopez
104	Eduard Prades
105	Michal Schlegel
106	Thomas Silva
107	Joel Nicolau
	Corratec-Vini Fantini
111	Niccolo Bonifazio
112	Davide Baldaccini
113	Valerio Conti
114	Lorenzo Quartucci
115	Mark Padun
116	Kristian Sbaragli
117	Antoine Debons
	Euskaltel-Euskadi
121	Iker Mintegi
122	Gotzon Martín
123	Xabier Berasategi
124	James Fouche
125	Xabier Isasa
126	Joan Bou
127	Mikel Iturria
	Lotto Dstny
131	Jenno Berckmoes
132	Johannes Adamietz
133	Arjen Livyns
134	Sylvain Moniquet
135	Eduardo Sepulveda
136	Jarno Widar
137	Jonas Gregaard
	Polti Kometa
141	Davide Bais
142	Mattia Bais
143	Davide De Cassan
144	Matteo Fabbro
145	Alex Martin
146	Francisco Muñoz
147	Davide Piganzoli
	Tudor Pro Cycling Team
151	Marco Brenner
152	Aloïs Charrin
153	Jacob Eriksson
154	Lucas Eriksson
155	Simon Pellaud
156	Roland Thalmann
157	Luc Wirtgen
	VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè
161	Luca Covili
162	Vicente Rojas
163	Giulio Pellizzari
164	Alessandro Pinarello
165	Manuele Tarozzi
166	Alex Tolio
167	Davide Gabburo
	Team Technipes #InEmiliaRomagna
171	Emanuele Ansaloni
172	Nicolo Garibbo
173	Luca Cavallo
174	Ludovico Crescioli
175	Andrea Innocenti
176	Andrea Sergiampietri
177	Filippo Omati
	Team MBH Bank-Colpack Ballan
181	Matteo Ambrosini
182	Diego Bracalente
183	Florian Kajamini
184	Lorenzo Masciarelli
185	Sergio Meris
186	Leonardo Volpato
187	Pavel Novak
	Biesse-Carrera
191	Nicoló Arrighetti
192	Tommaso Dati
193	Francesco Galimberti
194	Lorenzo Galimberti
195	Andrea Montoli
196	Davide Donati
197	Nicolo Pettiti
	Mg.K Vis Colors For Peace
201	Davide Bauce
202	Francesco Carollo
203	Simone Carrò
204	Ben Granger
205	Matthew Kingston
206	Simone Roganti
207	Ciro Perez
	General Store-Essegibi-F.Lli Curia
211	Michele Berasi
212	Tommaso Bergagna
213	Giovanni Bortoluzzi
214	Domenico Cirlincione
215	Filippo D'Aiuto
216	Marco Palomba
217	Ettore Pozza
	JCL Team Ukyo
221	Giovanni Carboni
222	Manabu Ishibashi
223	Yuma Koishi
224	Nariyuki Masuda
225	Atsushi Oka
226	Thomas Pesenti
227	Masaki Yamamoto
	Work Service-Vitalcare-Dynatek
231	Tommaso Bambagioni
232	Elis Belletta Pier
233	Immanuel D'Aniello
234	Tommaso Farsetti
235	Lorenzo Ginestra
236	Danilo Pase Christian
237	Lucio Pierantozzi
	Petrolike
241	Jonathan Caicedo
242	Edgar Cadena
243	Diego Camargo
244	Cesar Macias
245	Jose Ramon Muniz
246	Jose Juan Prieto
247	Bernardo Suaza