No Froome or Thomas at the Tour

Racing
21

I merged the newer thread to the older one (and will repeat if/when it happens again. :wink: )

4 Likes
22

No. He may not me ā€œmy Gā€, but he is G.

:sweat_smile:

2 Likes
23

Iā€™ve always felt Thomas hasnā€™t been backed enough by the team for the Tour which is a great shame IMO. INEOS have always had him as a number two but I hope they put there full weight behind him for the Giro.

Agreed that Froome is on another level, but making it back to the top is a big ask, but having said that, weā€™ve seen Lance come back from cancer so who knows.

1 Like
24

Well, we have to hope so.

But I donā€™t think the Dauphine is a predictor of TdF, this year more than ever and with the year weā€™ve had I would theorise that every team is weaker than they could be. Some riders could really struggle across all teams. This is a tour where experience could win out over formā€¦but itā€™s done now.

25

I definitely think we could see some odd results due to whatā€™s gone on this year. The Dauphine has generally been a good prediction of tour form but who knows in 2020.
Jumbo were looking very strong but it was a great shame to see some of their top guys crash last week and put there tour hopes up in the air.

2 Likes
26

Alaphilippe looked good which is good for France and the Tour I suppose.

1 Like
27

The route seems to ave been designed for Alaphilippe.
Heā€™s a great rider

2 Likes
28

Agree, but I think personality/ambition comes into it as well - heā€™s always seemed fairly content in that role. As have riders like Kwiatkowski who despite being a former world champion and having one of the biggest engines in the peloton seems happy to play the superdomestique role at the Tour even though it means heā€™s never really tapered and peaked for the one day races where heā€™s given free rein.

Compare to a rider like Bernal who made no bones about the fact that he wouldnā€™t sacrifice himself at the Tour. Or Froome who despite being 35 and recovering from a serious injury has gone to another team in order to be guaranteed leader status.

2 Likes
29

Iā€™m a huge fan of both. Rooted for Froome in all his tours and rooted for Thomas during his win and last year. However, Ineos needed to do something after the Dauphine. Jumbo just ate their lunch and I think what was apparent to me was that neither Thomas nor Froome helped the team AT ALL. Whether it is a lack of form or the fact that neither is agreeable to a domestique role after their prior roles, if Ineos has a even a remote shot to out maneuver Jumbo, they need all the domestiques they can find to do work and protect Bernal. Itā€™s probably also giving them good opportunities to be leaders at the other grand tours and perhaps they might be disappointed, but when youā€™ve got 3 leaders, youā€™ve got none.

1 Like
30

No, without the injury maybe but he is getting old to be winning the TdF. Maybe he can still win the Vuelta without the other big hitters there but Froome will never be as strong as he once was. Just a fact of life.

31

??? Gotta disagree hereā€¦Alaphillippe didnā€™t look good at all. he lost gobs of time early in the Dauphine, which was the only reason he was given his head later in the race to go chase stage wins.

I hope he comes good for the Tour, because I agree that this course is perfect for him. If you had this course with last yearā€™s Alaphillippe, he would take the yellow jersey on a trot.

1 Like
32

Alaphillippe does not have a 3 week Grand Tour physiology. Heā€™s best at 1 day classics and stage hunting. Most grand tour winners have a hard time competing for the win in the classics and 1 day races.

33

Iā€™m surprised but i think it might be a good thing. Remember how the shuffling of the deck last year led to a particularly exciting TdF.

Roglic for the win.

34

Agreedā€¦especially when it comes to riding at altitude. He really struggles there (and it showed last year).

But sometimes you catch lightning in a bottleā€¦which is why I said that if you took his form from last year and put it in this yearā€™s course, he would win. This years route is tailor-made to a rider of his capabilitiesā€¦shorter, punchier climbs and fewer climbs at altitude.

All indications are that he does not have the same form as last year, thoughā€¦

1 Like
35

So something else just occurred to meā€¦by putting all their eggs in the Bernal basket, Ineos has limited their options to counter J-V. In their favor is the fact that Kruijswieck is out of the Tour, but they still have to contend with Roglic and Dumoulin.

If they had brought Thomas and Froome, they could have sent one of those guys to mark Dumoulin or Roglic if they attacked. But now they donā€™t have that card to play. I suppose they could use Carapaz, but I donā€™t think anyone really considers him a contender for the Tour at this time. So I would would like my chances of a Dumoulin against Carapaz, for example.

36

Indications are that heā€™s planned his season to peak for the Tour though. In which case 2nd place at MSR is a pretty impressive performance, and some long hard days in the saddle getting in breaks at the Dauphine is good prep.

Also need to remember that his form last year came despite the fact that he hadnā€™t trained to be a GC contender and had a load of racing under his belt already including something like 7 wins for the season. He went into that Tour hunting stage wins and maybe a few days in the yellow jersey, what he achieved was phenomenal. I donā€™t buy into the idea that physiology is so hard-wired that somebody with the talent of Alaphilippe canā€™t train himself to be better at altitude or be competitive over a 3 week GT. If he really has trained for the Tour then I expect him to be a genuine contender. And given his ability to spark off emotion then if he gets into that yellow jersey and has the whole of France rooting for him then the other GC riders should be very worried.

1 Like
37

The reality is that Sky/Ineos only play their dual leader cards extremely conservatively anyway. Itā€™s not like theyā€™re a team who is always trying to get riders into breaks, put one of their leaders up the road, get their competitors second-guessing what their tactics are, etc. The years when theyā€™ve had 2 guys in the top 10 have simply been the years where those 2 have been amongst the strongest riders in the race, and the Sky train has been strong enough that they number 2 man has never had to sacrifice himself for the number 1 man.

Based on the Dauphine there is no indication that Froome or Thomas would have been one of the strongest riders in the race, nor that the Sky train is strong enough this year to blow away the competition. In which case putting all their eggs in one basket is probably their best chance.

1 Like
38

It sounds like this decision will be made this weekend, so thatā€™s not for certain yet.

39

Agreedā€¦but that is because they have been able to ride rough-shod over the peloton. They may not have that luxury this year.

A lot of the strategy in this yearā€™s Tour, IMO, will come down to bluffing and trying to get the ā€œotherā€ team to work. J-V needs to have the patience and discipline to force Ineos to work and not try and prove how strong they are (as they did at Dauphine).

Hadnā€™t seen thatā€¦thanks for the update.

40

I just saw it a little bit ago too: Jumbo-Visma react with surprise to Ineos Tour de France selection | Cyclingnews