As ever in the final countdown to the Tour de France’s Grand Départ, there is a huge amount of conjecture about rider selections for the teams that are likely to be contending for the yellow jersey.
In the last couple of weeks, L’Équipe and La Gazzetta dello Sport have published what they believed would be Team Ineos’s final eight for the Tour, both papers suggesting that Chris Froome’s hopes for a start were in the balance and that the line-up would be built around Egan Bernal and Geraint Thomas. Just 24 hours before Ineos announced their Tour team, another esteemed title posted a story claiming that Bernal would be replaced by Richard Carapaz as a result of the back injury the Colombian picked up at the Dauphiné.
This morning, Ineos put an end to the rumours and half-baked theories by revealing their eight-rider selection to defend the Tour de France title, and the verdict was much more startling than anyone had predicted. Not only has Chris Froome missed out, but so too has Geraint Thomas, the Tour champion in 2018 and runner-up last year. Carapaz has indeed been included, presumably as the Plan B to Bernal, with half a dozen very strong and, Tour debutant Pavel Sivakov apart, highly experienced “domestiques” to protect the two Latin American leaders.
Looking at those eight names – Bernal, Carapaz, Sivakov, Rowe, Kwiatkowski, van Baarle, Amador and Castroviejo – it’s very evident that Ineos boss Dave Brailsford and his management team have eschewed sentiment and focused on form and potential, just as they’ve done at key junctures in the past. Froome may have spent the last two weeks talking up his belief that he could contend at the Tour and was worthy of a place on the Ineos team for cycling’s biggest race, but he barely contributed when Ineos came face to face with chief rivals Jumbo-Visma at the Tour de l’Ain and Dauphiné. As Froome underlined during the Dauphiné, he’s come an awfully long way back since his career-threatening crash at that same race last season. However, it’s been very evident that he’s not yet at the level required to contend or even provide support at the Tour.
While the omission of Thomas is more surprising given his palmarès and high standing within the British team, his performances in the Tour de l’Ain and Dauphiné were well below what was expected. Speaking to the press at Megève Altiport following the Dauphiné’s penultimate stage, Ineos DS Gabriel Rasch was revealingly forthright when asked about Froome and Thomas, saying, “I think definitely [Chris] needs to step up. The same with G, he also needs to step up. They have not been good enough here.” That didn’t change on the final day.
There was some conjecture that one or even both of these two Tour winners would be selected following Bernal’s abandon after the Dauphiné’s third stage due to a back injury. However, my understanding from talking to team staff is that the injury was more of an excuse for his abandon than a reason for it. As a competitor, the Colombian reminds me of Alberto Contador, a leader who confirms that billing in every race in which he participates, always with an eye on victory. Look back over the past fortnight: he led the Ineos line brilliantly at the Route d’Occitanie; gave his all to defeat Jumbo at the Tour de l’Ain despite the Dutch team’s superior numbers; and spent the first three days of the Dauphiné doing the same. By the time he quit after the stage to Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, the Colombian looked like he was flagging and in real danger of depleting vital resources for the Tour.
3 Grand Tours, 3 Leaders, 1 Common Purpose was Ineos’s headline message on its Tour team announcement. They knew it would surprise, but took a little of the sting out of it by highlighting different objectives for Thomas and Froome. The Welshman will go to the Giro, where he has unfinished business after his 2017 challenge for the maglia rosa was scuppered by a poorly parked race organisation motorbike. Froome will go to the Vuelta, which is his favourite race and he’s won twice. There he will have a better chance to provide a fitting swansong to his 11 seasons with Sky/Ineos.
As for the Tour, Bernal is the undisputed leader of a team that instantly looks capable of rivalling Jumbo-Visma and any other challenger. All of the riders picked have shown they’re in form and, just as importantly, have a clear role.
Despite their struggles at the Dauphiné, their rivals kept insisting Ineos would be ready at the Tour, that they remained the team to beat. Their selection goes a good way to confirming that belief. A wind of change has produced a new-look Ineos that’s the same old Ineos.
Photo: ASO/Alex Broadway