Lenny Martínez for Tour de France debut! Groupama-FDJ change plans; Davis Gaudu and Stefan Küng also chase wins
Cycling
Groupama - FDJ are yet another team to announce their lineup for the Tour de France this Monday and they have an interesting '8' to present. No sprinting ambitions, only breakaways and possibly the GC; but the true surprise is the inclusion of Lenny Martínez in the team, which wasn't initially planned.
Martínez was set to race the Vuelta a España this year however, likely as a result of Martínez expected signing for Bahrain - Victorious, the French team have put aside their plans of slowly developing the French climber. Hence the Tour de France was put in his schedule, the 20-year old will be racing the Tour likely to pursue a stage win throughout the three weeks.
Team manager Marc Madiot had said three weeks ago only that Martínez would not race the Tour. "We predefined a program in the off-season and we stick to this program. There are other great events that we can compete with him, life and cycling do not stop at the Tour de France, even if it remains the peak of the season and especially for a French team," he said at the time. "He will participate in the Tour de Suisse, he will also do the Vuelta a Espana, so there is no particular frustration."
Martínez had a modest race in Suisse, not contesting for the overall classification. But he did finish second behind Jonas Vingegaard at O Gran Camiño earlier this year, alongside seventh at the Volta a Catalunya. He's won no less than five one-day races this year including the mountainous Mercan'Tour Classic in late May after crashing on a key moment of the race.
This may also be a result of the struggles of David Gaudu, who is likely coming into the race with a dream of contesting for the GC, but realistically stage hunting is the ambition to follow. Clément Russo will be a domestique for the flat stages whilst the rest of the team are options to fight for wins on hilly days featuring Valentin Madouas, Quentin Pacher, Romain Grégoire, Kévin Geniets and Stefan Küng - who is also contesting the stage 7 time-trial.
Groupama - FDJ for Tour de France:
Valentin Madouas
Clément Russo
Stefan Küng
Lenny Martínez
David Gaudu
Quentin Pacher
Romain Grégoire
Kévin Geniets
Clément Russo
Stefan Küng
Lenny Martínez
David Gaudu
Quentin Pacher
Romain Grégoire
Kévin Geniets
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