In the shadow of the huge Seixas hype, a new French GC contender steps forward: 'It’s absolutely crazy'

Paul Seixas finished fourth in the overall standings, making him the top French rider in the Tour de France. The 19-year-old climber from Decathlon CMA CGM thus lived up to all the hype that had been surrounding him for weeks. Yet, in the shadow of all the attention on Seixas, France also welcomed another general classification contender, who secured a surprising fifth-place finish in Paris.

We’re talking about Lenny Martinez, still only 23 years old, but already the much-anticipated general classification sensation in France for several years now. At times, this climbing prodigy truly lived up to the expectation. Expectation that Martinez himself had set with his performances in his first year as a WorldTour pro with Groupama-FDJ. As a 19-year-old rookie, he had already won the CIC-Mont Ventoux that year.

In 2024, too, he impressed on his good days with all sorts of (mainly French) victories as a climber, but it was really only after his move to Bahrain Victorious that Martinez began to truly deliver. In week-long stage races, he either posted a strong overall classification or successfully went for a stage win. For example, in 2025, he won a stage in Paris-Nice, the Dauphiné, and the Tour de Romandie.

In last year’s Tour de France, he made a name for himself as an attacker, having already competed in the Vuelta a España in 2023 and the Tour de France in 2024. In 2026, however, he increasingly became a GC contender. Fifth in Paris-Nice, second in the Tour of Catalonia, and third in the Tour de Romandie. But due to an illness leading up to the Tour de Suisse, Martinez aimed to compete for stage wins and the mountains jersey in the Tour de France.

Things turned out quite differently for the young climber. In fact, Martinez was already keeping pace with the best riders during the opening weekend, but when he also finished in the top ten on Stage 6 over the Tourmalet, the Frenchman began to secretly believe he could be more than just a stage winner and potential King of the Mountains. After a strong second week, the polka-dot jersey was already put aside.

In the third week, we saw Martinez at his best, and although he lost some time in the time trial on Stage 16, he made up minutes on his rivals from the breakaway on Stage 19 heading toward Alpe d'Huez. It was such a good day that he moved up from 7th to 5th place. Everyone expected that Lidl-Trek, in particular, would launch an attack on Martinez’s position in Stage 20, but he held his ground.

In fact, the climber was actually the fourth-best rider in the general classification that day, were it not for the fact that Seixas was already too far ahead to be caught for fourth place in the standings. And so, after the stage—in which he finished sixth—Martinez was more than happy to settle for fifth place in Paris. “It’s absolutely crazy,” he exclaimed.

"I didn't come to this Tour de France to compete for the general classification, but now I'm in fifth place and I almost won a stage on Friday (in Stage 19, where he finished second—Ed.). It's unbelievable."