"Lenny Martinez will face a big challenge" - Pello Bilbao urges patience from new teammate in quest to end wait for French Tour de France winner

In 2025, French climbing prospect Lenny Martinez departs the home comforts of Groupama - FDJ for a new challenge at Bahrain - Victorious. One of those experienced heads that will be tasked with guiding the Frenchman's development, will be the 34-year-old Spaniard, Pello Bilbao. 

Martinez, clearly not short of confidence, outlined his intentions recently to become the first French winner of the Tour de France since the legendary Bernard Hinault nearly 40 years ago, in 1985. "I'm going to do a lot of preparation this winter, on and off the bike, to achieve my goals," he said in conversation with Le Monde, not making any attempt to hide his ambition. "I want to win the Tour de France."

In conversation with Tuttobiciweb, Bilbao reflected on his soon to be teammate's ambition, urging patience for the 21-year-old Frenchman. "I can say that Lenny will face a big challenge, to sustain a three-week ranking with such a light physical conformation," the former Tour de France stage winner explains. "However, his potential is not up for discussion, at 21 years old he already has 6 victories in his palmares and can bring a lot of points to the team."

Whether through Martines or the likes of Antonio Tiberi and Santiago Buitrago however, Bilbao is certain the future of the Bahrain - Victorious team is bright. "Tiberi is really complete, he goes well on climbs but has the right power to go on a time trial and holds up on the 5-7% climbs that are often found in the Tour de France. If at 23 he is able to do a Giro like this year's, it means that he will definitely be able to get on the podium in the three weeks," Bilbao assesses. "On the other hand, Buitrago and Martinez are lighter than Antonio, they go faster on the single climb but I see them less structured than him for a Grande Boucle: I see them suited to the Giro and Vuelta, where they can think about seriously doing the general classification."

"In particular, Santiago, alongside whom I have raced a lot, I believe has not found the consistency to aim for the most important positions so far," the Spaniard concludes. "However the tenth places in the general classification of the Vuelta 2023 and in that of the Tour three months ago make us think that he can mature in this sense: athletically he is fine, he just needs to learn to interpret some racing situations in the right way."