The Times - UK (2020-08-28)

66 2GM Friday August 28 2020 | the times

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responses as a race unfolds. He will

cheer loudly when the team do some-

thing well and dissolve into pessimism

when they falter. Soon though, analysis

takes the place of emotion. What the

Dauphiné told him was that the team

he was taking to the Tour de France

weren’t going to cut it.

His response was impressive. With

his back to the wall, he decided against

taking Chris Froome and Geraint

Thomas. Quick as you could say “grand

tour” they were cast to one side. Not that

Brailsford would put it in those terms.

He said Froome was “repurposed” and

would lead the Grenadiers at La Vuelta

and Thomas at the Giro d’Italia.

bernal’s biggest threats

Colombian

Egan Bernal

Age 23

Nationality

Winner 2019

Team Ineos

Tour best

Primoz Roglic

Age 30

Nationality Slovenian

4th in 2018

Team Jumbo-Visma

Tour best

The reigning La Vuelta champion

arrives in good form, having won the

recent Tour de l’Ain and led the

Critérium du Dauphiné until a crash

forced his withdrawal

Worn by the leader

of the general

classification

Worn by the leader

of the points

classification

Worn by the leader

of the mountains

classification

Worn by the best young

rider (aged 25 or under

in the current year)

Overall leader

King of the mountains

Best young rider

Points leader

jerseys

Tour de France 2020

The ultimate guide

Bernal went from finishing

15th on his Tour debut in

2018 to winning it last year.

He is the lead rider for Team

Ineos, who have left their

other former champions

Chris Froome and Geraint

Thomas out of the squad

Age 21

Nationality Slovenian

Debut

Team UAE Emirates

Tour best

One of the brightest young stars

on the road, Pogacar won three

stages en route to finishing third in

La Vuelta last year

Richard Carapaz

Age 27

Nationality Ecuadorian

Debut

Team Ineos

Tour best

Bernal’s new team-mate, who joined

Ineos from Movistar this year, has

never ridden in the Tour but won the

Giro d’Italia last season

Tom Dumoulin Tadej Pogacar

Age 29

Nationality Dutch

2nd in 2018

Team Jumbo-Visma

Tour best

A former Giro d’Italia winner (2017)

who finished second to Geraint

Thomas in the 2018 Tour, Dumoulin is

part of an impressive one-two punch

with team-mate Roglic

Thibaut Pinot

Age 30

Nationality French

3rd in 2014

Team Groupama-FDJ

Tour best

The leading home contender and a

veteran of seven Tours, he was forced

by injury to abandon his pursuit of

the yellow jersey on Stage 19 last year

st threats

ta champion

aving won the

dled the

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ins

I smiled when reading accounts of Sir
Dave Brailsford’s latest thoughts on his
team and this year’s Tour de France. If
the man weren’t so busy being the most
successful team boss in the Tour, he
could make a decent living as a stand-
up comic.
They were gathered at a football sta-
dium in Nice — the city that hosts the
start to the 2020 race tomorrow— on
Wednesday afternoon and Brailsford
had some corporate business to attend
to. This was the moment Team Ineos
became Ineos Grenadiers, a change in-
tended to promote the auto division of
the parent petrochemical company.
Some journalist mentioned something
about the name change. “It is way more
[than a name change],” Brailsford
replied, with a straight face. “It’s a new
chapter in our existence.”
An explanation came in the succinct
management-speak jargon that the
team’s founder has turned into an art
form. “The Ineos Grenadiers is a new
name but one that sums up who we
have always been.” Brilliant. Especially
for those with very short memories.
Team Sky, as the outfit once was,
turned up at the 2018 Tour de France
with “Pass On Plastics” written promi-
nently on the team bus. On the back of
the team jerseys was a drawing of an
orca. This was the team that wanted to
save the oceans and its inhabitants. So
when the boss speaks of the petro-
chemical giant (Ineos) and its new SUV
4x4 (The Grenadier) being “who we
always have been” he reminds us that if
you want to destroy the truth, just
stretch it.
Here, to use a Brailsford analogy, I
am speaking of the peas, not the steak.
Far more important than the name of
the team is the fact that for the first time
since 2011, Brailsford’s team do not have
the favourite for this year’s Tour. The
evidence of the principal prep races, the
Tour de L’Ain and the Critérium du
Dauphiné, was that the Slovenian
Primoz Roglic is the one they must beat
in this year’s race.
Surprising at first, Roglic’s eminence
soon became entrenched. Each suc-
ceeding climb deepened the first
impression. Ineos’s leader Egan Bernal
wasn’t bad but neither was he at Roglic’s
level. On the second day of the
Dauphiné, Brailsford’s team tried to lay
down the old law but succeeded only in
laying bare its limitations. Roglic wasn’t
just the strongest but in the American
Sepp Kuss he had the best equipier.
Kuss is very good.
Since Brailsford’s team started win-
ning the Tour de France in 2012, they
hadn’t had a week at the Critérium du
Dauphiné like the one they suffered
through this month. On the team bus,
Brailsford is known for his passionate

Brailsford’s mind

games show signs

of a worried man

However it is presented, leaving the

two most decorated riders in the team

at home was the right decision. They

weren’t going well enough to be pro-

tected and even though Thomas has

always been a terrific equipier, it’s tough

for the man who was once king to serve.

Froome, for sure, was never going to

adapt to that. So Brailsford did the right

thing and has surrounded Bernal with

seven riders who will be there for him.

Clarity has replaced the potential for

chaos. Thomas sounded disappointed,

while Froome seemed more accepting

of his omission. When you finish 71st,

1hr 25min down on the winner in your

final prep race, there isn’t much room

for moans and the four-times Tour win-

ner didn’t offer any.

The one with reason to feel hard

done by is the Ecuadorian Richard

Carapaz, who had been preparing to

lead the team at the Giro d’Italia until

he was summoned for equipier duties.

If Carapaz commits wholeheartedly to

the role, the Grenadiers will be strong.

Pavel Sivakov and Michał Kwiatkowski

are two high-class riders. Whether or

not their support for Bernal will be

enough depends upon Roglic.

The 30-year-old suffered a heavy fall

on the fourth stage of the Dauphiné

and was too bruised to start the final

stage. His recovery has been slow as has

his last week’s training.

His partner Lora Klinc wondered if

he’d be fit enough to start. Jumbo-

Visma say that he has improved and

will be present. It’s not ideal. Neither

was the crash on that same stage of the

Dauphiné that fractured Steven Kruij-

swijk’s shoulder and robbed Jumbo-

Visma of an excellent rider and the

team’s most astute strategist.

The loss of the Dutch rider and anxie-

ties over Roglic should have encour-

aged Brailsford. Even if his own team

are not going well, their most dangerous

rival has issues. If Brailsford has been

encouraged, it didn’t show in Nice. He

talked as if Bernal, 23, had a free shot at

this year’s race. “He’s won the race

already. He’s a young guy,” he said. “He’s

got years ahead of him in this race, and

he’s obviously ambitious but he has no

pressure. It’s a nice position to be in...

As a leader I like that he’s in that posi-

tion, free in his mind, whereas some of

our competitors are getting towards

their late twenties and thirties, they ha-

ven’t got too many chances left to win.”

The idea that Ineos’s leader has no

pressure is for the birds but the point

Brailsford wanted to make had nothing

to do with Bernal. “For the Roglics, the

Dumoulins, the Pinots, time is passing

them by,” he said. “They need to win it

now or they’re never going to win it.”

Roglic, the Dutch rider Tom Dumou-

lin and Thibaut Pinot are unlikely to

stress about Brailsford’s attempt to

spook them. Rather than tell us any-

thing about Ineos’s rivals, the trash-

talking offers a glimpse inside Brails-

ford’s head. In the years when his team

were dominant, he never needed to

play silly games.

Now he tries to create uncertainty in

the minds of his rivals because, for once,

he’s unsure about his own team.

6 David Walsh is the Chief Sports Writer

for the Sunday Times

The Team Ineos boss

has dominated the Tour

for years but 2020 may

see a changing of

the guard, writes

David Walsh

David Walsh on key qualities

needed to win the Tour

TALENT

You must climb as well as your

closest rivals — but climbing alone is

not enough. The potential champion

has to be strong on the flat, able to

ride in crosswinds and be

comfortable on undulating roads. A

proper rouleur. Do all of this and

then produce an excellent time-trial

on the penultimate stage and you

may win this year’s race.

ENDURANCE

Lots of talented riders can be good

for a week or even two but can’t

survive the third week, like Julian

Alaphilippe last year. The former

Danish cyclist Per Pedersen put it

succinctly during the 1987 Tour de

France: “First week, good; second

week, tired; third week, f****d!”

Primoz Roglic won’t want Egan

Bernal close to him in the third

week. Bernal likes the final week.

STRONG TEAM

It’s not impossible to win the Tour

de France with a weak team. Greg

LeMond was an exception to that

rule in 1989. Generally, the Tour

winner will be supported by the

strongest team in the race. Roglic

and Bernal have the best teams.

Team Groupama-FDJ are not as

strong and that leaves Thibaut Pinot

at a disadvantage.

TACTICAL NOUS

No matter how strong the rider and

how powerful his team, smart

tactics are important. You could

argue that for the past few years,

Team Sky/Ineos did not need to be

clever. They were that much better

than everyone. This

Tour will be different.

Team Ineos will be

more circumspect as

Roglic’s team, Jumbo-

Visma, try to control

the race. The

danger for Jumbo-

Visma is that they

do too much

during the first two

weeks.

LeMond won

with a weak team