Project Lenny: Can Rod Ellingworth and Bahrain Victorious develop France's next Tour de France winner?

The Tour de France is as much a three-week bike race as it is a blank canvas for the French tourism board to show off all that's great about the diverse regions of l'Hexagone. The 2025 race also marks a significant anniversary that French cycling will undoubtedly mention proudly over the next few weeks: the 40th anniversary of Bernard Hinault's record-equalling fifth Tour de France win.

However, for the triumph that this milestone recognises, the fact that it's the last time a Frenchman stood on the top step of the podium in Paris is a thorn in the side of French cycling fans.

Of the previous 40 editions before and including Hinault's last victory in 1985, 21 were won by French riders. The following four decades of general classification standings are stark in their contrast. Laurent Fignon was the closest rider to the maillot jaune, and a third personal victory – losing by a mere eight seconds – in 1989, but since then, many have tried but ultimately come up short. From Voeckler, Virenque, and Péraud to Pinot, Gaudu, Alaphilippe, and Bardet, none could crack the formula required to hold the maillot jaune in Paris.

Yet brighter times could be on the horizon: a youthful cohort of French talent in the men's peloton has emerged in recent years, notably Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious).

Out of that trio of talents, though, Martinez is the only one not to ride for a French team. He departed Groupama-FDJ at the end of 2024 for pastures new.

The Cannes-born rider, whose father and grandfather both had successful cycling careers themselves, told the French team of his decision to leave in early 2024, and despite them offering him a new contract, opted to join Bahrain Victorious.

"Yes, it was the biggest offer. But much bigger than the others? Not so much. I can say it's significantly less than what was written," the Frenchman told L'Equipe during an interview at the team's training camp in January.

Of course, it wasn't just a financial decision for the 21-year-old. Bahrain's desire to have him on the team, coupled with the fact that the squad was based outside of France, proved key factors in the deal.

The 21-year-old, who will go straight into the team's line-up for this summer's Tour alongside fellow young starlet Santiago Buitrago, has not wasted any time hitting the ground running in 2025, with three WorldTour stage wins at Paris-Nice, the Tour of Romandie, and most recently at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Cyclingnews spoke with Martinez at the Dauphiné, where he forecasted his strong form that helped him clinch the final stage.

"I feel super good, this is the race in preparation for the Tour, and I just finished a training camp, so I hope the sensations will be good this week.

"I train, I do the best for myself in the racing, so I will give my maximum [effort], but I take no pressure on [myself]," he explained.

The 'pressure' that he alludes to not only stems from his strong performances on the WorldTour at such a young age, but also from something he has no control over: his nationality.

Any French rider who has GC credentials ignites a sense of hope and with it, pressure, from the home fans, such is the drought of yellow jersey contenders within the national roster in recent times.

Martinez acknowledges that he should be better prepared for the Tour this year after a less-than-ideal debut in 2024. "For sure, the Grand Tour last year was good for this year, I think this year as a rider, I'm a bit stronger also, so hopefully [the result] will be better."

The result in question was an underwhelming 124th in the GC standings, with an 11th place finish on the final stage time trial into Nice, the only stage that the Frenchman made it inside the day's top-40 finishers.

"Looking back, I now know that when you have a series of very highs and very lows, it means there's a problem, a very serious fatigue that has set in. Bahrain explained it to me. At FDJ, they didn't explain it to me," he told L'Equipe in January.

The Frenchman already saw signs of what he is now certain was fatigue at the Tour de Suisse.

"I should have already told myself that things didn't look good, that I shouldn't go to the Tour. FDJ told me: 'You never know.' I didn't yet know that it was a sign of fatigue. And I went for it. On the Tour, I was only good for three days."

"On the Tour, it was one [good day] a week. After the Tour, it was zero. I was terrible for months, it only got worse."

'When he gets a sniff of a win, he's bloody good'

Martinez has worked hard with his new team to overcome the stumbling blocks he faced in 2024, building more altitude and explosive efforts into his training. It's something encouraged in part by the team's special project manager, Rod Ellingworth, who rejoined Bahrain Victorious late last year with a key focus on supporting their Grand Tour talents, a task the ex-Team Sky sports director is no stranger to.

"The reason for taking him on was [that] you could see he'd got something and he'd won a good few races with his previous team. He hadn't broken through at WorldTour level winning, but he'd won some good quality bike races before, so it was quite evident he got some good quality," explained Ellingworth to Cyclingnews.

However, the British staff member did admit that there's a level of uncertainty that comes with any new signing, especially those moving abroad and into a new environment.

"Whenever anybody joins a new team, you're never quite sure. This was a total change for him, a more international team, very much English speaking, and he'd been very much in that French system.

"He's a young 21-year-old. There's no issue with his riding [of] his bike and he's properly into the sport."

With this in mind, the team took a two-part approach to bedding Martinez into the squad, first letting him get to know the personnel and his new equipment, then tackling some early-season races and beginning to develop the Frenchman's output via training.

"This was a level up in terms of intensity of training camps," Ellingworth said. "I believe you've got to put pressure on people a little bit, even early doors, because at the end of the day, this is bike racing and performances are your outcomes. Whether you're succeeding or not is [based on] performances."

"We had some pretty big targets for him from a performance point of view and and to be honest, he's achieved every single one. He ran a little short in the Critérium du Dauphiné because we were looking for a GC [result] there, but he's still won the final stage."

Ellingworth was quick to point out that perhaps Martinez's strength lies in his versatile nature, winning each of his WorldTour stage victories this season in a different manner.

"One thing I've really learned is, bloody hell, when he gets a sniff of a win, he's bloody good.

"Fortunately, we've done a lot of work with this sort of age group, and he's at that part where you think, 'God, you've got a lot to work with,' that's a quite exciting point really."

GC credentials and home pressure

But for all Martinez's potential, only one aspect seemingly matters for the French supporters. Does he have the attributes to challenge deep into three-week races?

It wasn't a question Ellingworth would answer explicitly, and perhaps that's because he doesn't own a magic crystal ball. But, he did convey optimism for the 21-year-old's Grand Tour chances.

"You never quite know where they can go. He's now won three stages in WorldTour races. He definitely wants to win a stage in the Grand Tours; that's a goal of his," he said.

"I'm pretty sure he can top 10 in the Tour de France. Could he finish top five at the Tour? Potentially. Could he podium at the Tour? Potentially. Could he win the Tour? Don't know.

"[Lenny's] got a huge capacity to take workload. He bounces back from fatigue pretty well. One of his challenges is putting three weeks together, and I think it's step by step. It's way too early to say one way or another. I don't think he knows yet, to be honest, I don't know whether he has the patience."

Martinez is equally as grounded about his general classification chances, according to Ellingworth.

"He's really realistic with his goals and ambitions. He's not saying 'I want to win the Tour de France'. He's not actually saying that at all. He's saying, 'Hang on, I'd love to perform at the Tour, I'd love to win a stage at the Tour' - that would be the first thing to tick off and then see what happens.

"I think before you can win the Tour, you've got to be winning one-week stage races. I can certainly see there's real potential there."

The down-to-earth approach from both Martinez and Ellingworth is perhaps wise, especially considering the noise outside of the room.

The aforementioned French yellow jersey winner drought means that with each new contender, the pressure only builds.

The Bahrain Victorious special project manager has worked with French riders before, but few with as much potential and praise heaped on them as Martinez.

"It is what it is. I think Lenny's super proud to be French. I think he, of course, appreciates what the Tour de France means to the French public. You can tell that when you talk to him," Ellingworth said.

Meanwhile, team directeur sportif Neil Stephens and teammate Fred Wright, who spoke to Cyclingnews at the Dauphiné, believe the pressure isn't sticking to the young Frenchman.

"I think that it's really good that he's chosen to go to a non-French team, and we're lucky to have him here," added Stephens.

"We try to encourage that, that sort of non-French, not too much pressure [mindset] because if he were in a French team, he'd have real direct pressure on him. Sure, he's got direct pressure on him because he's a good bike rider, not necessarily because he's French [though]."

"He seems quite relaxed, to be honest," said Wright, who will tackle the Tour alongside him this July. "I don't think he realises how important he is to French fans. He just takes it as it comes, which is the benefit of being 21, just riding his bike, racing it."

As Bahrain Victorious staff and riders are quick to point out, there's little internal pressure on Martinez this summer beyond stage hunting, with GC targets set further down the line. But that doesn't mean a sniff at the overall standings won't turn into a proper tilt should it come Martinez's way, and you can bet the French public will be driving him forward whenever they can.

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