Tour de Romandie 2025-3 ” in advance, 17km… will Lenny Martinez finally put an end to the French scarcity on stages races?

The losing France is a few weeks old to reach the majority and it is not an event that we will really want to celebrate. It has been 17 years, 10 months and 16 days that no French has won a stages race at the highest level and, frankly, it is starting to do a lot.

Lenny Martinez was not even four years old when Christophe Moreau had imposed himself on the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2007, he will have 22 in July and the heavy task, this Sunday, to hope for all of France of cycling, the day after his 8th career success, acquired on the Tour de Romandie at the top of Thyon 2000. And his first yellow jersey in World Tour, without even knowing it.

“I take the yellow jersey? I didn’t know“, He admitted in the middle of an interview, himself surprised by this scenario which will offer him on Sunday the possibility of closing the final time trial of this 2025 Romandie Tour. A great first for the French of the Bahrain-Victorious, whose team change (he was at Groupama-FDJ last year) this winter is already a success. He since his beginnings with the pros: his first victory in the World Tour on Paris-Nice, a first top 5 on a WT stage race on the Tour de Catalonia (5th), a Top 5 on the Walloon arrow (4th) and now this Romandie tour.

But between shining and winning, the border is fine and immense at the same time and Lenny Martinez is well aware of the difficulty of the task that promises to be. “”I don’t want to be pessimistic, but, being realistic, I think it’s going to be hot with Joao Almeida at 3 ” behind mehe explained at a press conference. It’s a very good roller so it will be complicated, but I will give the maximum and we will do the accounts on arrival. You never know“.

Lucid, the Habs knows that his 3 ” in advance on the Portuguese of Uae-Emirates-XRG, much more than the 2 ” on the Italian of XDS Astana Lorenzo Fortunato, does not represent much at the dawn of the 17 kilometers scheduled for Sunday around Geneva. Especially given the theoretical level of the two men facing the chronometer. Let us agree: for his size (1.68m for 52kg), Lenny Martinez is an incredible roller. Especially on the Tour de Romandie where he took 16th place in 2023 in 2023 in Châtel-Saint-Denis (at 35 ” from Ayuso) as in 2024 in Oron (44 ” from McNulty). What to hope for even better in Geneva? It is unlikely.

Already the 17km layout on the banks of Lake Geneva is far from being as hard as those of the previous two years, with a single small bump of 1500m to 5% after 10km. What promote the big rollers of which Joao Almeida is a part. If the Portuguese is not one of the best in the world either, he still remains, he who has not left the top 10 of an out of the world since the Algarve 2023 tour. And their – rare – clashes have, obviously, always (6/6) turned in favor of Almeida.

If the shape of everyone certainly has much to do with that of the time, Lenny Martinez had for example conceded 56 ” in Portuguese on the 16.6km of the Chrono du Tour de Poland 2023. Last year, on the time trial of the Tour de France, Almeida had ahead of 1’51 ” on the 25km of the 7th time timed. It’s simple: it will take a capital feat of the French of the Bahrain-Victorious to keep his yellow jersey and succeed Christophe Moreau.

“It’s a time, there is no tactic, you just have to drive and we’ll see the result at the end“, Simplifies the tricolor, who does not want to put himself any pressure.”I would already like to end up on the general’s podiumhe admits. It would be a superb week with the stage victory. Afterwards, if I finish with the yellow jersey … it would be even more fantastic“. And a real relief for French cycling.