It's as if a Ligue 1 football club, PSG excluded, had great hope in its squad and saw a European club with deep pockets approach it.
How could he keep it?
This is perhaps what the Groupama-FDJ team fears will happen in the coming months.
Since the start of the season and the retirement of Thibaut Pinot, the French team has relied heavily on its two nuggets: Romain Grégoire (21 years old) and Lenny Martinez, 20 years old.
However, according to information from Gazzetta dello Sport, the latter has just received a very attractive proposition financially.
It is the rich Bahrain-Victorious team which transmitted, via its agent Dries Smets, a three-year contract which would triple what he currently receives at Groupama-FDJ.
According to our information, Bahrain-Victorious is not the only team to have called Dries Smets.
And the team led by Marc Madiot would have no way of opposing it since Martinez will be at the end of his contract on December 31, 2024. For the moment, Martinez has not given any agreement.
Officially, the transfer market only opens on August 1.
But this is a vast hypocrisy since all agreements are sealed well in advance.
Except that no one has the right to express themselves.
Neither Marc Madiot his boss, nor his agent.
A huge start to the season
“That Martinez receives a big offer at the beginning of March is normal,” explains another runners’ agent well established in the French community.
But no one is high-fiving this early in the season.
Especially since nothing would prevent Groupama-FDJ from giving him a contract extension that is obviously higher than what he receives this year.
Generally, it is between the end of April and May that things really settle down.
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But that David Gaudu's young teammate arouses envy is normal.
Last year on the Tour of Spain, he became the second youngest cyclist to wear a leader's jersey on one of the three grand tours since... 1904. And this year, his start to the season is more than successful with already two victories at the Classic Var in France then at the Trofeo Laigueglia in Italy.
Not to mention a final second place in the general classification of the Gran Camino behind Jonas Vingegaard, or an eighth place on the very demanding Strade Bianche routes.
Martinez, who will not be fielded by his team in the Tour de France, unlike Romain Grégoire, will be the leader at the end of the season in the Tour of Spain.
Will this be his last under the colors of Groupama-FDJ?
To stay at Groupama-FDJ, Martinez wants guarantees
“Obviously money is important in a career,” says an observer very close to many French runners.
But Martinez, like others, is part of a generation that does not want to wait to win very big events like a Grand Tour.
And frankly, it's still easier to do it in a big team than by staying in France.
There are guys who sign abroad by agreeing to work for big leaders and play their cards on Classics like Christophe Laporte (Visma - Lease a Bike) or Pavel Sivakov (UAE).
But Bahrain-Victorious can offer Martinez a leading position in a Vuelta for example.
And that is difficult to refuse.
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Obviously, Lenny Martinez is very far from having signed with Bahrain-Victorious.
According to our information, he is far from rejecting the idea of a contract extension at Groupama-FDJ.
What Marc Madiot ardently wishes.
Obviously this would be at higher salary conditions.
But not only.
He would like to obtain guarantees that the workforce around him, and not just among the riders, is improved in order to allow him to aim for very big victories.
But the simple fact that the latter is interested so early in the season in one of the best French hopes makes the relative weakness of French cycling resonate.
Faced with the much more solid budgets of teams backed by a State (UAE, Bahrain-Victorious) or a large company (Visma-Lease a Bike or Red Bull which has just bought Bora-Hansgrohe), the French teams will have a hard time keeping their runners for a long time.
Because in cycling, unlike football, we rarely sign contracts lasting longer than two years.
Romain Grégoire will be at the end of his contract in 2025…