While few Tour wins are a breeze, Sky rarely looked troubledas Geraint Thomas offered them a sixth win in seven seasons.So how should their rivals respond to the challenge?
It is now often forgotten that Sky endured plenty of travails in its quest for the yellow jersey, not least in its first two seasons when it failed to muster any kind of challenge for the Tour title. Yet, its fortunes changed in 2012 when Prudhomme delivered a route that suited Bradley Wiggins to a tee and Chris Froome began to emerge as this decade’s Grand Tour giant. Over the subsequent half-a-dozen seasons, Sky have dominated, but, crucially, have also repeatedly demonstrated their gift for planning and adaptability. To an extent, this was easy to do while Froome was at his dominant best. But that supreme ability to adapt to changing circumstances was particularly apparent both before and during the 2018 Tour.
Every team had to answer two essential questions going into the race: how best to respond to a route where Prudhomme set ambushes at almost every turn and how to do so with eight riders instead of nine. Sky were also set a third: how to defend the Tour crown with the defending champion possibly missing from their line-up.
この記事は CYCLING WEEKLY の August 9, 2018 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。
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この記事は CYCLING WEEKLY の August 9, 2018 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
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