"Maybe Lenny will make us dream of this team" - French pundit has reserved opinion about Lenny Martinez's move to Bahrain

Long gone are the glory days of French cycling with the likes of Anquetil, Hinault and Fignon fighting for the biggest victories. The four decades long wait for next Tour de France winner is unlikely to end anytime soon but if there is one man of whom the hopes are high, it's got to be Lenny Martinez. The pocket climber from family of top-tier cyclists grew up in French teams, but for 2025 he chooses to take his next steps aboard.

In a chat with Cyclism'Actu, Cyrille Guimard talks about 2025 transfers that caught his eye. One such involves the big small French GC talent. "There is also Lenny Martinez, who is interesting to follow because he is going to Bahrain - Victorious, a team that is not necessarily in phase with our culture and maybe even simply that of the Martinez, who have a certain culture, a certain idea of ​​what cycling is, whether it is with the dad, the uncle, the grandfather... How will he adapt to this world?"

"I am not too afraid for him, but it is still something that will be interesting. Going to a team whose real culture is difficult to know, which is a little bit in the second curtain... because Bahrain - Victorious is not the team that makes people dream today. Maybe Lenny will manage to make us dream of this team, but in my opinion it will be difficult."

Martinez joins Bahrain - Victorious on a three-year deal with a rumoured payroll of around €5 million. His current team Groupama - FDJ seems to have came up with a rather lucrative counter-offer but in the end the 21-year-old chose to head off to a new adventure. Due to this, the final months of Martinez's stay in FDJ were rather conflictful, including a forced out-of-shape start at the Tour.