Lenny Martinez is slowly gaining confidence in brand new environment: "Everything is done in English, but I am managing to fit in"
Cycling
One of the most unexpected transfers of past winter was Lenny Martinez's move from Groupama-FDJ to Bahrain - Victorious. The future star of French cycling thus sets out on an adventure in a completely new environment in a formation where he's the only native French-speaking rider.
"The integration is going very well. Now everything is done in English, but I am managing to fit in," Martinez tells Bici.pro. It's not a secret that French cyclists prefer to stick to their native language, but the 21-year-old seems able to adapt. What also helps is that his coach is from the French-speaking part of Belgium.
"My coach is Loic Segart, Alec's brother: the one who rides for Lotto Dstny and goes like a train in time trials, you certainly know who he is. The good thing is that Loic speaks French and it was very nice to discover that I would work with him because on certain very technical aspects it is nice to be able to speak my language."
Tour de France
Before the season, the team spoke about the plan to turn Lenny Martinez into the best French GC rider of the decade. In an ideal scenario, this would see the little climber win (or at least podium) the Tour de France. "I think that for a French rider like me, the Tour de France is important and I think that in the next few years it will be the most important race in my calendar."
And the best plan of action is to start right away. Martinez is expected to start in Lille next to more experienced leaders, which should allow him to gain experience without added pressure.
"It's true, there is a project that involves me, but also other riders like Santiago Buitrago and Antonio Tiberi, who are both leaders for the general classifications. Then there are the other riders. The goal is to improve every year and make sure that in a few years I am competitive at the Tour de France."
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- Having to shoulder too much pressure from the Belgain public too much that he made a tactical mistake. That's what public pressure does to you. Poor Wout! Hopefully, lady luck befalls him soon.
KerisVroom03-04-2025 - If he's very lucky maybe he can podium a Tour one season, I certainly don't believe he can win it, evervappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- Yeah, as if fans would now have acquired a right to an MVPD every generation ;-)Jumpyjohn03-04-2025
- Yeah not this year anyway but worth keeping an eye on him (and some others) in future.Jumpyjohn03-04-2025
- poor kid, saddled with all that “next mvdp” crap. eeesh…OCexile03-04-2025
- I don't think so, maybe in a different GT, not in the Tour. Last year, to be 3rd, he would have to be better than Remco. And he wasn't, on any terrainvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- Or sprinting, or against wind. I think by now they’ve optimised the tire tech and pressures to largely smooth out rider weight effects. BUT, I’m going to go through past podiums to see what weight distribution trends are to be spotted coz I’m curious now.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- I also wasn’t too impressed by the final lead out, they’ve got to practice that, Wout had far too long to ride alone but then again it seemed as if the lead-outs had themselves run out of steam too early which is what makes me believe none of them could have won, Powfull looked totally fresh and in the end it was just a case of him being stronger than the others, not much you can do against that, just like you can’t outdo MVDP in the end when he’s in shape.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Exactly, a rider (or sprinter in athletics) can’t even tell themselves when it will happen until it does. Obviously if you have an idea that could happen, you should maybe envisage testing your theory with perhaps an small sharp attack well before race-end.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Yes but 20 minutes as a domestique isn’t 20 minutes as a leader, and you know as well as anybody that Pog winning is in no way a guarantee. Granted, neither Pog nor Remco nor Jinas nor Primoz or some more winning starts to seem far-fetched but a podium would certainly be targetable if he doesn’t have to worry about Jonas.Mistermaumau03-04-2025