If the idea of the Tour de France becoming the Jonas & Tadej Show for the next five years doesn't float your boat, you may have been relieved to note the appearance of a new young promise on le bloc at this year's Tour de France.
Carlos Rodríguez of Ineos Grenadiers was notable for his presence in the top-five on GC that he maintained from stage five onwards, and of course his stage win.
He took that in Portes du Soleil on stage 14, with Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar far too preoccupied with battering each other senseless to notice or perhaps care as he slipped away. He wasn't, after all, a huge threat to the two titans' stranglehold on the top two GC positions.
Ineos would like you to become a whole lot more closely acquainted with the 22-year-old Andalucian over the coming seasons - perhaps even in the coming months - as he forms one of the squad's best hopes of returning to the top step of the podium in Paris. His showing at the Tour was a fillip to the team, which is still in something of a transition period after the dual injuries of first Chris Froome and then Egan Bernal threw a spanner into their long-term plans.
The only thing standing in the way of that is the reports that the Spaniard is set to join Movistar in 2024, though there have also been reports the British team is making efforts to keep him, after having signed him straight out the junior ranks.
Whether he stays or not he seems sure to be a fixture of the Tour de France for the next decade.
A star is born
The Tour's latest star was born and raised on the coast at Almunecar on Spain's Costa del Sol. He grew up loving the sea and the outdoor life that the area's clement weather offered. He enjoyed playing all sorts of sports, with tennis, windsurfing and football all part of the after-school programme he enjoyed, enabled and encouraged by his parents.
This story is from the July 27, 2023 edition of Cycling Weekly.
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This story is from the July 27, 2023 edition of Cycling Weekly.
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