OFFICIAL: Bahrain - Victorious sign French supertalent Lenny Martínez and dream of Tour de France podium
Cycling
A transfer that had been agreed on behind the scenes already a while back this summer, which has now been made official. On the fourth day of this transfer season Bahrain - Victorious announced the key signing of young climber Lenny Martínez who they hope to support into Tour de France glory in the upcoming years.
Groupama - FDJ made the effort to keep the 21-year old on board but it proved too difficult. Already in May it was reported that he would likely make the switch to Bahrain and that his salary would increase from around €200.000 per season to close to a million, a number Groupama could not match. Team Visma | Lease a Bike was also said to be in the running for his signing, but have in the meantime gotten Simon Yates as another strong climber added to their ranks.
Bahrain hence get, on a three-year deal, the talented climber who has won five races this season including the Mercan'Tour Classic. Martínez impressed in his Grand Tour debut last year, taking the lead of the race at the Vuelta a España in the day that Sepp Kuss won and made his bid for race victory. He dropped out of contention only in the second week but the potential for a future contender was visible. This year the plan was the same but likely amidst the transfer news, the French team decided to take him to the Tour de France where he failed to be a relevant racer in the mountains, never close to his best form.
“I am extremely happy to join Team Bahrain Victorious for the next three seasons. The solid project around the team and myself convinced me," Martínez said in a press release. "Together, we have great ambitions, and I am convinced we will achieve great things. I would like to thank the Groupama FDJ team, who accompanied me during my first years in the professional ranks.”
He joins a team with plenty other talented climbers such as Pello Bilbao, Santiago Buitrago, Antonio Tiberi and Damiano Caruso at the very least, who already have a contract with the team for next season. “When we started this project in 2017, we dreamed of achieving a podium at the Tour de France with a French rider from our team. We believe Lenny gives us that chance," team director Milan Ezren added.
"His talent, dedication, and spirit align perfectly with our team’s vision. France has a rich history of great champions in our sport, and we want to help Lenny create his own legacy in French cycling. We are excited to support him in reaching his full potential and achieving great things together.”
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- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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✍️ Bienvenue @lennymrtz1! We are pleased to announce the signing of young French talent Lenny Martinez for the next three seasons. #RideAsOne 🔗 bit.ly/3LQbHGP
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