“I dedicate it to my daughter”: Dani Martínez did not hide his satisfaction at winning the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country

After a vibrant millimeter finish of the fourth stage (Vitoria - Zamudio) in the Vuelta al País Vasco 2022, Colombian rider Daniel Felipe Martínez celebrated an important victory on the morning of Thursday, April 7.

The rider of the Ineos Grenadiers team beat the sprint of the fourth stage and knew how to attack at the right time to cross the finish line first against the candidate and win the competition, the French cyclist Julian Alaphilippe.

In context: Daniel Martínez struck a coup of authority by winning stage 4 in the Vuelta al País Vasco 2022

Well, after celebrating his arrival at the 185.6 km mid-mountain stage in 4 hours, 15 minutes and 23 seconds, Martínez Poveda was placed on the podium of the competition just 11 seconds behind the Slovenian leader, Primož Roglič. This merit, in the absence of two complex final stages, served as motivation for him to fight for the title, as he described the achievement in the interview after the end of the penultimate stage:

At 25 years old, Daniel Felipe can boast a title of Colombian time trial champion, as well as the winner of a stage in the Tour de France and Criterium del Dauphiné in 2020. Martínez believes that Ineos still aspire to the general standings, both with himself (third overall), and with Adam Yates (fifth) with two rounds left.

The runner did not hesitate to dedicate his victory to Egan Bernal and therefore also honored his daughter after the final battle against Alaphilippe:

In addition, on her Instagram account she celebrated by thanking her teammates and family with this message:

When asked for the group of favorites in Itzulia, the Colombian acknowledged that the degree of difficulty and demand will be for a rider of his conditions after showing that he has very good legs to finish in the final straights:

Route and profile of stage 5 of the Tour of the Basque Country 2022: Zamudio — Mallabia (163.8 km)

Five scoring ports and several climbs without scoring, runners will have the challenge of the mountain stage this Friday, April 8.

It will be a highly complicated route with very little time to breathe and hold the peloton, which translates into a race with five ports that will have to be overcome along the route: Paresi (2nd category, 9 kilometers at 3.4% average slope); Bedarona (3rd category, 2.1 kilometers at 7.1%); Gontzugaraigana (3rd category) category 2.6 km to 6.5 per cent); Trabakua (3rd category, 3.3 km to 7.1 per cent) and Karabieta (2nd category, 6.7 km to 5.6 per cent).

There will be no top-notch highs, but the five ascents mentioned above will leave the next winner waiting, not to mention the fact that the rain complicates the entire ascent and the eventual descents.

By the end of the day, Mallabia's goal will be short but explosive with a ramp of up to 16%.

KEEP READING: