Paris (AFP)

Ineos got it right. Neither Chris Froome nor Geraint Thomas, five Tours de France between them, will be on the Great Loop (August 29 - September 20): a strong choice in response to the growing doubts around the British team since the resumption.

Never has the hegemonic ex-Team Sky, which has only let out a Tour de France since 2012, seemed so crumbly and Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas paid the price, not chosen for the Great Loop.

On the Tour de l'Ain then the Dauphiné, the extraordinary isolation in the mountains of the Colombian prodigy Egan Bernal, the last yellow jersey in Paris, shook British certainties.

Especially since for the first time, with the Jumbo squadron of Primoz Roglic and Tom Dumoulin, the Ineos armada is faced with a team that is on equal terms with it. Even that surpasses its firepower as Dave Brailsford's men did not hold the comparison on the preparation races for the Tour de France.

These thick clouds on the horizon of the ex-Team Sky pushed his boss Brailsford to decide.

- Duo in distress -

Exit, as expected, the man with the four Tours: Chris Froome will not be on the French roads in September.

A little over a year after his serious fall on the Dauphiné 2019 which had left him crippled with fractures (cervical vertebra, femur, hip, elbow, ribs ...), + Froomey +, 35 years old and leaving next season towards the Israel Start-Up Nation team, is not among the eight riders selected Wednesday by Ineos to compete in the Big Loop.

"He needs a little more time to come back to the top level," said Brailsford in a video posted on the team's website.

Even if he put himself at the service of the Colombian Bernal on the Tour de l'Ain then the Dauphiné, Froome showed limits that he did not know as soon as the road climbed.

His 71st place on Sunday, nearly an hour and a half behind the winner of the event, Colombian Daniel Martinez, forced the decision.

As a consolation prize, the Briton will however be the leader of Ineos on the Tour of Spain.

More unexpectedly is the sidelining of Geraint Thomas, 34, for the benefit of Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, winner of the Tour of Italy 2019 and initially scheduled to compete in the Giro again this year.

But the Welshman, co-leader of the team on the 2019 Tour which he finished on the second step of the podium, could not sign better than a 37th place on the Dauphiné where he also gave up a considerable time - -about an hour-- on Martinez.

"I would have preferred to be a little better, but my data is good. I just have to lose another kilo and I will be perfect," he assured, while acknowledging a "fairly difficult start to the Dauphiné".

With his absence from the Tour, for the benefit of the Giro, a page is turned in the history of the ex-Team Sky who for the first time will not make the trip to France with a British leader.

- The Carapaz card -

To counter the dream team Jumbo on the Tour, Brailsford chose a pair of South American aces with Egan Bernal and Richard Carapaz.

The doubts born on the condition of the Colombian after his abandonment of the Dauphiné because of back pain, seem raised: "Egan will target again the yellow jersey in France", planted the boss of Ineos.

But it would be risky to reduce the Ecuadorian to the role of a simple teammate. Ineos will need several playing cards against Jumbo, who is not lacking with 2019 Vuelta winner Primoz Roglic, 2017 Giro Tom Dumoulin and 2019 Tour podium Steven Kruijswijk - if he is recovered from his fall on the Dauphiné.

And although the British team remains unclear on Carapaz's status on the next Tour, the Ecuadorian, after all, was not Movistar's announced leader when he won on the last Tour of Italy.

© 2020 AFP