Lenny Martinez has been the leader in the mountains classification of the Tour de France since Monday. It cost the Frenchman blood and sweat, but he did fulfill a promise to his grandfather. The special story of the Bahrain-Victorious rider in the polka dot jersey.
Tour de France viewers saw a strange sight during the first stage: Martinez couldn’t keep up with the peloton. It was unclear what was wrong with the 22-year-old Frenchman. Shortly before the Tour, he had impressively won a stage in the Critérium du Dauphiné. Now, suddenly, every gust of wind or altitude meter was too much for him.
After a visible ordeal – extensively covered on television screens – Martinez crossed the finish line last, more than nine minutes behind stage winner Jasper Philipsen. The disappointed talent was not sick, he told Eurosport. “I’m just very tired.”
Three days later, Martinez was apparently rested. He attacked from the start in the fourth stage and sprinted along the way for the points for the mountain jersey, which he just missed that day. After the stage, Martinez explained the reasons for his attacking urge. But for that, we must first go back in time.
Lenny Martinez is a scion of a rich cycling family. His father, Miguel Martinez, rode the Tour de France once and became world champion and Olympic champion in mountain biking in 2000. Grandfather Mariano Martínez participated in the Tour de France ten times, won two stages and took the mountain jersey home in 1978.
Blood and a promise to a visually impaired grandfather
Mariano Martínez is now 76 years old and his sight is deteriorating rapidly. Before the start of the Tour de France, he had a request for grandson Lenny. Whether he might be allowed to see him ride in the mountain jersey for one day, before the light goes out for good.
Lenny Martinez started working on this request. He overcame his poor Tour start and saw his chance on Monday, on the French national holiday. The Bahrain rider joined the breakaway of the day. There were enough mountain points to collect along the way to conquer the polka dot jersey.
During his polka dot hunt, Martinez did encounter a remarkable problem. The Frenchman was suddenly covered in blood, the result of a nosebleed. At that moment, the stage victory was already out of sight. Martinez was caught by Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, and crossed the finish line with the two favorites. With bloody arms. That yielded the photo below for the scrapbook.
‘I think he’s very happy’
Moreover, Martinez succeeded in perhaps the most important goal. “Of course, I would have liked to cross the finish line as a winner on Quatorze Juillet, as my grandfather once did,” he said with the polka dot jersey around his shoulders to Sporza. “But I promised him the mountain jersey and I succeeded. I think he is very happy with it.”
Martinez has an eleven-point lead over number two Ben Healy in the mountain classification. With the Pyrenees and the Alps still on the menu, that is no difference at all. This Tour de France is teeming with climbs that are worth twenty points each.
In any case, today the dream of grandfather Martinez comes true: grandson Lenny rides in the eleventh stage in the polka dot jersey. Possibly there is more in store for the French cycling family in this Tour de France.
“I’m still going to attack and try to win a stage,” Martinez looked ahead. “And then hopefully keep the polka dot jersey until Paris. Although that will be difficult, with someone like Pogacar in the peloton.”
