Paul Martens

Martens started racing junior level events in 2000 showing no particular specialization finishing in the middle of the pack in the Niedersachsen Juniors and Cottbuser Juniors races. In 2001 he started to show some form finishing 3rd in Stage 1 of LVM Saarland Trofeo beating the chasing peloton by 2 seconds. Later in the year he finished 10th overall at the Münsterland Tour Juniors a race he would win the senior version of later in his career. In 2002 he rode the Istrian Spring Trophy finishing 56th overall with his best result coming in the stage 3 sprint where he finished 16th. In late May 2002 he rode the Under-23 Tour de Berlin where he finished 13th overall but was the first rider born in 183 or later so he won the Youth classification. 2003 started with winning the Rund um Sebnitz in Germany. The only other notable event in 2003 was a podium placing on Stage 1 of the under-23 tour de Berlin. 2004 saw Martens get second at the German National Time Trial Championships in the Under-23 competition. Later in the season he completed in the Under-23 European and World time trial championships he finished 13th in both events.[5][6] Martens signed for amateur team KED Bianchi Team Berlin for the 2005 season, this gave him a calendar with more UCI races over the year. He started the year with a win at the national event; Harzrundfahrt. Followed by 5th in the Stage 1 sprint of Circuit des Ardennes. Then a win at the Under-23 German National Time Trial Championships. For the later part of the 2005 season he was a stagiaire at UCI ProTeam T-Mobile Team.[7]

In November 2005 Skil–Shimano announced they had signed Martens to their team on a two-year contract.[8] Martens Pro career began in Qatar with the International Grand Prix Doha where he finished in 126th position the second to last finisher nearly 4' 30" down on the winner. It was then onto a few stage races where he played the domestique role. The next races on his calendar were the Cobbled classics leading into the Ardennes classics.[9] Martens rode his only ever Tour of Flanders where he didn't finish and his only Paris–Roubaix where he came 99th almost 20 minuted down.[10] The first show of form was at the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt where he finished top-10 in two stages followed by a top 10 in Stage 4 of Tour de Picardie later in the month. The Tour de Luxembourg brought Martens first professional win, winning Stage 3 ahead of eventual overall winner Christian Vande Velde.[11] Martens second professional win came at the Münsterland Giro where he took the early break away and held the peloton off finishing two seconds ahead of them on line.[12]

Martens started 2007 at the Vuelta a Andalucía where he finished 6th in the bunch sprint of stage 2 and ended 21st overall after the 5 stages.[13][14] It was then to Belgium for the Cobbled Classics where he didn't finish Nokere Koerse or Omloop Het Volk but came third in the Grand Prix Rudy Dhaenens. The first top-10 result in a stage race came at the final edition of Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt where Martens finished 4th in Stage 3 and then 2nd in Stage 4 to finish 5th overall 16 seconds down on the winner. In June 2007 the Tour de Luxembourg was held with Martens finishing in the top-10 in 3 stages and only losing 17 seconds in the prologue. This led to him finishing 4th overall 25 seconds down on the winner.[15] Stage 3 of the Ster Elektrotoer was won by Martens from a reduced bunch sprint after a hilly battle. This put himself into the leaders jersey only to lose the lead the next day and finish second overall. In August he raced the Rund um die Hainleite where he came third in another reduced bunch sprint. His last major result came at the Eneco Tour where he finished 9th overall. On 24 October 2007 Martens announced he would ride for UCI ProTeam Rabobank from 2008 on a two-year contract, saying his three professional wins in two years at Skil Shimano were impressive.[16]

He competed in the 2015 Tour de France.[17]

In February 2020, Martens announced that he would retire from cycling at the end of the season; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Martens intended to prolong his career until the middle of the 2021 season.[18][19] He retired following the 2021 Giro d'Italia,[3] where he finished 99th.