Vuelta 2023 – Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), the end of the dream in red: “Return to almost normal life”

The waking dream of Lenny Martinez did not resist the mad slopes of Xorret del Cati for long. Unable to follow the best in the last ascent of the 8th stage, the French nugget had to leave his red leader’s jersey to his executioner on Thursday, the American of the Jumbo-Visma Sepp Kuss. The Habs did not crack completely either, but they could not do better than 13th place in the stage, 1’10” from the winner of the day Primoz Roglic.

“I’m still a little disappointed, I had already gotten used to this shirthe admitted to L’Equipe. The legs were there, the normal sensations, but it was the rhythm imposed by the guys who play the general that made the difference“. And in particular the Jumbo-Visma and the Soudal-Quick Step.”It was going really fastassured the young man from Cannes. The tempo of Jumbo-Visma shattered everyone“.

At the forefront of the peloton all day, well surrounded by his teammates, Martinez will have spent his time defending his red jersey from a distance. First against the threat Cristian Rodriguez (Team Arkéa-Samsic), who left in the breakaway when he was in 21st position overall on Saturday morning, just 4’01 ”from the French. But the Jumbo-Visma quickly came to take over from Marc Madiot’s men, the beginnings of a climb to Xorret del Cati carried out at very high speed, from the foot. A tempo that the red jersey was very quickly unable to keep.

“Of course I would have liked to keep the red jersey as long as possible but, at some point, you also have to make up your mind, explains Martinez. JI just didn’t have the legs to keep up. The last bump was steep, it suited me well, I had quite a good feeling, but it was going too fast. I felt before the bump that I was a little tight because of the hardness of the stage“.”He may have paid a little for the different protocols of the last few days, but he’s young and that’s normal“, recalled his sporting director Benoît Vaugrenard. It is normal and, above all, the Frenchman has not lost his footing.

“I don’t end up that far“, he is also satisfied. A slight delay which allows him to keep 3rd place overall, 1’00” behind Kuss. And which impresses his own team-mates.”Lenny loses the jersey, but he can be proud of his performancesays his savior of the day, Michael Storer. We cannot speak of frustration. He far exceeded his own expectations. There are no regrets. We have the youngest team in the event and five riders are competing in their first Grand Tour. When I was racing my first Vuelta, I was just trying to reach Madrid“. Lenny Martinez is 3rd in the general classification and will wear the white jersey for the event on Sunday.

“White jersey and 3rd overall, it’s always goodrecalls the Frenchman. The goal is not to waste too much time either, but if I lose any, it’s normal, in front it’s champions“. So rather than trying to follow runners he is unable to follow, Lenny Martinez preferred to manage his climb on Saturday. From experience it would seem if we did not remember his fresh 20 years old (he had them in July).

“I handled well with Michaelhe says. He helped me a lot throughout the bump and in the end. He waited for me and I tried to climb in a linear fashion, so as not to explode. Above all, it should not explode. In such a difficult climb, if you explode, you can lose a lot of time“. Which was not his case, enough to see the rest with appetite and ambition. With an ascent probably too short tomorrow to create big gaps and a stopwatch – not really his specialty – on Tuesday after the rest day , taking back the red jersey seems impossible but that is not really the objective of the Groupama-FDJ climber, who is not changing his course of action.

“The rest will be to always play the general and keep the white jersey as much as possible, to do everything every day, as best as possible.“, he assures with lucidity. Losing a minute per mountain stage, finishing in 13th place in this one, there is no doubt that Lenny Martinez and Groupama-FDJ would sign immediately. “If I can’t accompany the best, and I lose more or less a minute each time, it’s okay“, confirms Martinez, who wants above all to avoid air pockets.

“I’m still in the game, and the goal when you play the general is not to lose ten minutes at oncecontinues the Groupama-FDJ climber. The goal is to be consistent and that’s what I plan to do“. Even if it means doing his own race, without taking care of the jolts, à la Joao Almeida. At the same time, given the regularity in the Grand Tour of the Portuguese of UAE Team Emirates (top 6 of the four Grand Tours he finished), the technique is interesting, if not spectacular. But it’s time for Lenny Martinez to discover again, not to put on a show. But how far can he go?

Becoming the first Groupama-FDJ in history to snag a top 5 seems unrealistic and excessive expectations but, on his Vuelta debut, imagining him becoming the third rider from Marc Madiot’s team to snag the top 10 after Thibaut Pinot (7th in 2013 and 6th in 2018) and David Gaudu (8th in 2020) is not impossible. But for now, it’s time to recover. “Now back to the white jersey and almost normal life“, he joked after the stage. As if getting ahead of Evenepoel in the general standings of a Grand Tour, after eight stages, was normal. Of an exceptional and ambitious normality, perhaps.