Martinez hopes for a polka-dot fight with Vingegaard at the Tour de France: 'It could be a bit more open'

If there’s one rider who would give it his all to win the King of the Mountains jersey at the Tour de France, it’s Lenny Martinez. The Frenchman from Bahrain Victorious reiterated this several times during a press conference on Wednesday. But how? IDL Pro Cycling asked exactly that to the friendly climber, who secretly hopes Jonas Vingegaard will do well.

First, let’s talk about his legs, which had seemed to be in excellent shape just recently. In the final stage of the Tour de Suisse, Martinez was part of the breakaway, and the climber from Cannes seemed poised to take the stage win. But Tadej Pogacar was still hungry for victory, and so Martinez was denied the stage win at the very last moment.

Still, it was a good sign heading into the Tour de France. “I’m in good shape and I feel really good,” the Bahrain Victorious rider said on Wednesday. This despite the fact that the Tour de Suisse had gotten off to a rough start. “It was a bit tough after my crash at the start of the race, but I was able to recover well.”

So Martinez has arrived in Barcelona in good form, where the battle for the polka-dot jersey is set to begin soon. We asked him about his game plan, but the Frenchman couldn’t say too much about it yet. “I know the team has a very precise plan for the mountain points. I’ve touched on it a bit already, but not too much.”

Still, Martinez was able to share a few thoughts on how he plans to approach things. “There are a lot of stages that are important, especially toward the end of the Tour. I know the team has a plan, and right now they’re not putting too much pressure on me about it. But of course: I’ll have to go all out on every mountain stage with a lot of points up for grabs. On the easier stages, I need to stay warm in the peloton.”

Riders like Valentin Paret-Peintre have also said they’ve made the polka-dot jersey a goal, but because of the points system, general classification contenders usually finish high in the mountains classification as well. Take Pogacar, for example, who also stood on the podium in Paris last year wearing the polka-dot jersey.

And so Martinez says: “I think it’s pretty tough with riders like Pogacar. Especially when he’s really at his best.” Still, the Frenchman sees opportunities. “I think it could be a bit more open if Jonas (Vingegaard, ed.) is close behind. If one wins a stage one day and the other wins another stage on a different day, then the points might be spread out a bit more between the two of them.”

But, the young climber repeats: “It’s true that it’s tough, because they want to win just about everything. Often the margin is small in the end—just like last year. In some stages, I might have been able to pick up a few more points, and maybe I would have pulled it off. We’ll see how it goes, and we’ll keep our fingers crossed,” says the number three in the 2025 mountains classification.