“In my head, it meant Jonas Vingegaard was afraid of me in the sprint” - Lenny Martinez hits back at critics amid standout start to 2026

Lenny Martinez did not just beat Jonas Vingegaard at Paris-Nice. He left that final stage in Nice with something else as well, a shift in how he sees himself against the very best.

The two riders went head-to-head in a reduced sprint, but the dynamic of the move caught Martinez by surprise. “It felt strange when he refused to take a turn,” he said in an interview with Eurosport show Bistrot Velo, after Vingegaard chose to sit on his wheel all the way to the final straight.

For Martinez, that hesitation carried meaning. “In my head, the fact that he’s won the Tour and was playing it like that with me, when I’m still very small compared to him in terms of palmares… maybe it meant he was afraid of me in the sprint.”

He then backed that feeling up by taking the win and securing fifth overall. That moment now sits at the centre of a growing early-season narrative. Not just results, but a rider beginning to impose himself psychologically against the sport’s biggest names.

That confidence exists alongside a reputation that has not always worked in his favour. Martinez’s aggressive, opportunistic style has drawn criticism in recent seasons, but he shows little interest in engaging with it. “Honestly, I don’t really care,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t really understand what people are saying. It’s also possible that I just don’t agree with the comments about me.”

Rather than pushing back directly, he distances himself from the outside perspective entirely. “When you watch on TV, it’s different. You’re not inside the race,” he added, making clear that much of the judgment comes from a viewpoint he does not recognise. “I have nothing against those people; I don’t have any hate. I just don’t always agree.”

It is a stance that reflects how he approaches racing itself. Direct, instinctive, and largely unconcerned with how it is perceived.

If that attitude risks dividing opinion, his results are doing the work of grounding it. The Paris-Nice stage win was not an isolated flash. It formed part of a week that brought fifth place overall, and it has since been reinforced by his performance at the Volta a Catalunya, where he finished second overall behind Vingegaard and proved one of the strongest climbers on the decisive stages.

That consistency is something Martinez himself attributes to a clear step forward in his level. “I’m much stronger than last season,” he said, pointing to the progress made over the winter.

It aligns with what his early 2026 campaign has already shown. Strong across different terrains, present in key moments, and increasingly comfortable in races defined by the very best.

For a rider long labelled as one of French cycling’s biggest hopes, that rise has not come with visible pressure. “It never really bothered me,” Martinez said of the expectations placed on him. “It never put too much pressure on me when people said I’d be a future Tour winner and things like that. It’s still so far away.”

Instead, his focus remains deliberately narrow. “I don’t really worry about my popularity. I just try to do my best every year, improve, and enjoy riding my bike. The rest is what it is.”

That approach also shapes how he looks ahead. Rather than chasing a general classification result at the Tour de France, his priority remains stage hunting and the mountains classification, while other targets sit further down the line. “I have a good feeling about that race,” he said of La Fleche Wallonne. “Maybe not this year… but I hope to win it one day in my career.”

The broader picture, though, is already taking shape. A rider comfortable in his own methods, unconcerned by criticism, and increasingly capable of matching the biggest names in the sport. And after Paris-Nice, perhaps one who believes those riders are starting to take notice too.