"Maybe Lenny will make us dream of this team" - French pundit has reserved opinion about Lenny Martinez's move to Bahrain
Cycling
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.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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