Formative families in cycling: Lenny Martinez - Grandpa mountain king, father Olympic champion

Miguel Martinez is pursuing a dream that he entrusted to the French "L'Équipe" in 2021: to get back in the saddle and compete in a professional race as father and son. Given his age of 47, this may sound utopian. But Martinez did make a brief comeback in 2020 for the Continental team Amore & Vita and even took part in the French road championships, finishing 93rd.

However, he is unlikely to be able to keep up with his son Lenny Martinez. The latter is regarded as the French hope for the big national tours. At least Martinez has raised all kinds of expectations in his first professional season. For example, with his first professional victory in June in the demanding Mont Ventoux Challenge one-day race - at the age of 19.

Grandfather Mariano Martinez won two stages of the Tour de France

Meanwhile, his performance at the Vuelta a Espana 2023 caused even more of a stir: Martinez slipped into the leader's jersey from an escape group at the mountain finish of stage 6. He wore the coveted garment for two days, becoming the youngest rider in the history of the race. He eventually finished the tour in 24th place - a remarkable Grand Tour debut.

With his talent, Lenny Martinez is following in the footsteps of his grandfather rather than his father. Grandad Mariano Martinez started ten times in the Tour de France between 1971 and 1981, with remarkable results: With sixth place (1972), eighth (1974) and tenth (1978), he finished in the top ten three times, and in 1978 he also finished the Tour of France as winner of the mountain classification - including a stage win on Pla d'Adet. In 1980, he won another stage of the Tour de France in Morzine. At the 1978 Road World Championships in Montreal, Canada, he finished third behind Eddy Merckx and Raymond Poulidor.

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Miguel Martinez, on the other hand, celebrated his successes primarily off-road. In 2000, the Frenchman secured the overall World Cup victory as well as the world cross title and won gold in mountain biking at the Olympic Games in Sydney. From 2002, Martinez briefly tried his hand at road cycling, but failed to achieve any great results. He rode for the Mapai and Phonak teams, among others, and finished 44th in the 2002 Tour de France.

Lenny Martinez starts cycling late

Miguel Martinez initially ended his career in 2004, but returned briefly in 2008 and again in 2020. His brother Yannick also found his way into cycling: between 2012 and 2018, he rode for French teams, mainly in the ProContinental sector. He never took part in the Tour de France.

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Lenny Martinez's family background in cycling was correspondingly strong. However, he only decided to take up cycling at the age of 14. "Lenny grew up with his mum in the Var department, and even when he decided to come to Burgundy to live with me as a teenager, he had no plans to go into cycling," father Miguel Martinez told L'Équipe in 2021. But at some point, Lenny Martinez did get on his bike, impressed in the juniors, switched to the junior programme of the Groupama-FDJ team and got his first professional contract there in 2023.

Meanwhile, Miguel Martinez cannot do without cycling races. This year, he once again took part in smaller races on the French cycling calendar for a local team together with his brother Yannick, who is twelve years younger. And, who knows, maybe he will still be on the starting line with his son one day.