"He'll be motivated to wear the yellow jersey": Lenny Martinez expected in the spotlight during 2026 Tour

Lenny Martinez already tried his hand at the Tour de France twice, but without a real success. However, the gem of French cycling already prepares for another attempt at the Grande Boucle with parcours that should suit the lightweight climber. In particular the final two mountain days on Alpe d'Huez could be Martinez's chance to shine with GC tactics opening up opportunities for a breakaway. After all, third time is the charm.

"There are some really great stages for Lenny and I think that next year we will see a great Lenny," his father Miguel Martinez told Cyclism'Actu after the route presentation on Thursday.

After two editions that didn't quite go as the young rider would've hoped for (especially after he was thrown under the bus by his then team Groupama - FDJ in 2024), you might think that maybe, the 22-year-old will pick a different objective... "Ultimately, the Tour de France is one of a kind," his father confirms the burning ambition to succeed at Tour.

"There are some really great stages and especially to take the jersey on the tenth stage. I think that he will already have it at heart to be able to wear it in Nevers which is the home town of the Martinez family, so that would already be a first step. And after that, it is true that with two climbs of Alpe d'Huez, I think that he has two chances to be able to showcase his climbing skills."

Last year, the Tour was already much better for Martinez who was in the running for polka dot jersey for a long time before the GC riders took lead through consistency in mountains arrivals. "As we saw, the first year the Tour de France was still very tricky, the second year he got his legs going well, he was the one who did almost the most kilometers in the breakaway last year, and I think that in his team now he has found his bearings and next year we can expect a great Lenny."

The Bahrain - Victorious rider concluded the season with a solo win at Japan Cup. His fourth triumph of the year. "Yes, it's a race he won and we're proud of his victory," confirms the former mountain bike star.

But he also wants to highlight some less outstanding results of his son that confirm his quality. "And above all, one thing we didn't see was that he finished 12th at Il Lombardia where he had a small mechanical problem on the last climb and otherwise he would have been playing with the top 5 with Paul Seixas, so he went a little unnoticed there at the end of the season, but he deserves all our attention for the year 2026."

It was a year where the GC ambitions of Martinez were not always met with reality, but 2nd overall at Tour de Romandie, 4th at La Fleche Wallonne or 5th overall at Volta a Catalunya, those are results that will grant the Frenchman a sense of pride and motivation to further hone his skills into years to come.