If the Tour de France was a computer game, Sir Dave Brailsford would be in possession of the cheat codes. Or at least one of them: the one that comes with having Britain’s richest man as your sponsor – unlimited funds.
The result is that, yet again, the Ineos Grenadiers go into the world’s biggest annual sporting event with the best team. Their eight-man squad boasts a previous Tour winner plus two recent winners of the Giro d’Italia to comprise three Grand Tour winners in total.
These aren’t yesterday’s men, either. Geraint Thomas, Tour champ in 2018, was third overall in the Critérium du Dauphiné. Richard Carapaz, Giro victor in 2019, won the Tour de Suisse. Tao Geoghegan Hart, the winner of the 2020 Giro, finished 10th overall in the Dauphiné in support of Thomas and Richie Porte. That Aussie veteran may be Ineos’s joker in the pack but he’s got the best form of the lot: a career-best third overall in the Tour last season, backed up by his recent overall victory at the 2021 Dauphiné.
“I think it’s the strongest team we’ve ever had,” says Gabriel Rasch, Ineos’s lead directeur sportif for the Tour. For a team that has taken seven yellow jerseys with four different riders over nine years, that’s quite a statement.
この記事は CYCLING WEEKLY の June 24, 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は CYCLING WEEKLY の June 24, 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
CLASSIC BIKE COLNAGO SUPER
A trailblazing bike immortalised by Merckx and Saronni
"Strava activities are the only way I know some of my friends are still alive"
...or that Bernard is doing his weekly shop
AN EXPERT'S TAKE ON... SADDLE SELECTION
Crucial advice to guide your next purchase
JUST A NUMB#R?
Approaching a landmark birthday, Charlie Graham-Dixon explores how ageing affects cycling performance and what can be done to stay ahead of the curve
RURAL PERIL
More UK cyclists are killed on rural lanes than on busy city streets. Rob Kemp investigates why and what can be done to keep us safe while riding in the countryside
A BLESSED RIDE THROUGH THE FOREST OF BOWLAND
Forgoing cloak, cassock and cross, Trevor Ward goes in search of the holy roads that helped make a Tour winner
Dame Sarah Storey claims road and 19th gold double
More success for Team GB's Paralympians in Paris, but Storey slams women's time trial course
Roglič matches Vuelta win record
Slovenian takes fourth Tour of Spain title after hunting down O'Connor's lead, writes Adam Becket
Williams crowned Tour of Britain champion
Welshman leads home resurgence at the stage race to crown an Israel-Premier Tech clean sweep, reports Tom Davidson in Felixstowe
CLASSIC BIKE CLAUD BUTLER OLYMPIC ROAD
Iconic British brand's Holdsworth-era road bike