Home expectations for fast progress from 21-year-old French climber Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) received a major boost at Paris-Nice on Thursday thanks to his first-ever World Tour win on the brutally steep finish of La Côte-Saint-Andre.
While it's far too soon to say if French fans' hopes that the country's lengthy quest for a successor to former greats like Bernard Hinault and Laurent Fignon will finally be fulfilled, Martinez's series of flamboyant mountain triumphs is certainly giving them renewed reasons to dream.
Martinez had already taken five wins in his first two years as a professional with Groupama-FDJ. But after moving to Bahrain Victorious over the winter, the question of where his first victory for his new team would come remained - until Thursday.
Fifth overall at 55 seconds, and with the toughest mountain stages to come this weekend, Martinez remains a potential contender for overall victory next Sunday, and he is now talking up his chances of going for the podium.
But for now, in any case, his demonstration of climbing prowess on the lungburstingly tough slopes of stage 5's summit finish against some of the best-known riders in the world already means that, career-wise, a major step forward has been taken by Martinez.
"It's very important because he's a young French rider," double Tour de France winner Bernard Thévenet told L'Équipe. "He's really one of the big French hopes, and on Thursday, he showed both great maturity and ambition."
"We can't ask too much of him, but at the same time, we need to ask for results - yes, he has to win races," he added. "A few years ago we made the mistake of leaving our expectations to one side, to let them progress gently instead of putting them under duress. Lenny, though, like Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), like Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), like others are already there, they are showing they are up to it."
Martinez's success, however, has placed him under a constant spotlight, which is perhaps not so ideal, Loïc Segaert, Martinez's trainer since last November, told Nieuwsblad, given that at 21, he needs time to progress.
"It's unbelievable how much pressure there is on him," Segaert said, adding that the decision to field Martinez in Paris-Nice and a number of other major races on home soil was "partly to win back French hearts," after he quit local WorldTour squad Groupama-FDJ for Bahrain Victorious last winter.
"Whenever we ride a race in France, there are always thirty or forty people standing at the bus chanting. 'Lenny! Lenny! Lenny!'
"You should not underestimate the pressure the French media puts on him. The number of interview requests is almost impossible to count, and there is always a camera crew following him."
Segaert said the team had already seen that stage 5 suited Martinez, given his ability to punch hard at the top of a hard, steep ascent, and that the first aims for him remained week-long stage races, stage wins and perhaps a crack at Flèche Wallonne, with its very similar finish to Paris-Nice's final steep ascent on stage 5, in April.
As for the Grand Tour GCs, nothing is ruled out yet - and Martinez has already become the youngest ever leader of the Vuelta a España two years ago in a mid-week mountain stage to Javalambre. But while those possible long term goals are still uncertain, Martinez' options on further success in Paris-Nice remain very much intact.
