Lenny Martinez surprises at Tour de France but faces Pogačar dilemma: ‘Then we’ll try to switch’

With Paul Seixas sitting sixth overall, just 28 seconds from the podium, France still has plenty to dream about in the 2026 Tour de France. The 19-year-old carries much of the host nation’s hopes, but another—and rather more surprising—French name is not far behind. That was not necessarily part of the original plan. So what will Lenny Martinez do now?

A long list of climbers announced before the Tour that they would target the general classification, while others arrived with stage victories in mind. Only a handful openly identified the mountains classification as a major objective. Richard Carapaz of EF Education-EasyPost was among them, as was Soudal Quick-Step’s Valentin Paret-Peintre. But Martinez also wanted to join that battle.

That ambition was clear on the Col d’Aspin. On the opening Pyrenean climb, Martinez narrowly beat Paret-Peintre to the summit and collected ten mountain points. He then produced an impressive ride on the Col du Tourmalet, staying close to the group containing Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Martinez rejoined the other chasers on the descent before eventually finishing tenth in Gavarnie-Gèdre. His first question to L'Équipe after crossing the line said everything about his original objective: “Do I have the polka-dot jersey?”

The answer was no. Tadej Pogačar reached the top of the Tourmalet first and collected the maximum 20 points. The Slovenian now leads the mountains classification with 28 points, ahead of Jonas Vingegaard on 19 and Martinez on 16. Martinez had actually planned to spend the day in the breakaway rather than trying to follow the favourites on the Tourmalet. “I told myself that I needed to get into a breakaway,” he explained. “But it was incredibly hard before the climb.”

Martinez still got his opportunity to compete for points on the Aspin, and he grabbed it with both hands. “After that, I told myself I had to ride the Tourmalet flat out to collect more points,” he said. “And that would take me all the way towards the finish.” He added another six points on the hors catégorie climb, although the effort came at a cost. “Near the top, I almost started cramping, and then I had a bit of stomach pain.”

A rapid descent followed, but the most difficult section was still to come for the lightweight French climber. The road towards the finish in Gavarnie-Gèdre was not especially steep, making it better suited to powerful riders with bigger engines. Evenepoel did much of the work in the chasing group, and his pace almost proved too much for Martinez. “Remco was suffocating all of us when he rode on the front,” Martinez said. “I had nothing left in the finale.”

With designated Bahrain Victorious leader Antonio Tiberi now around 27 minutes down, Martinez has unexpectedly become the team’s best-placed rider in the general classification. He is eighth overall, 4 minutes and 21 seconds behind Pogačar and only 54 seconds from the podium. Should he now pursue the GC, or continue following the plan agreed before the Tour? “I don’t know,” Martinez admitted. “If Tadej proves too dominant for the polka-dot jersey, then we’ll try to switch. But today it was about both: the polka-dot jersey and the general classification.”