Nice (AFP)

A pair of aces, a doublet of jokers and a liar poker: the duel between the two superpowers of the peloton, the Ineos team of Egan Bernal and the Jumbo of Primoz Roglic, who each have several cards to play on the Tour de France, has already started before the big departure on Saturday in Nice.

The strike force of the Jumbo squadron on the first three stages of the Dauphiné, where the yellow and black cogwheel train crushed the competition on the alpine slopes, recalled the greatest demonstrations of Ineos, for the first time exceeded and forced to reconsider her plans.

Exit the man at the four Tours de France, Chris Froome, and his successor to the 2018 Tour winners, Geraint Thomas, deprived of the Great Loop, the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, surprise winner of the Giro 2019, was called to the rescue.

Even without the injured Steven Kruijswijk, the ease of Jumbo and in particular of its Slovenian leader Primoz Roglic since the restart have created tremors in the British team. For the first time since the start of ex-Team Sky's hegemony in 2012, a man from Dave Brailsford is not given a big favorite.

This costume is the former ski jumper Primoz Roglic, winner of the last Vuelta, who donned it at the same time as the yellow leader's jersey of the Dauphiné after his success during the second day, at the col de Door.

A stage that Egan Bernal finished in 10th place, 10 seconds behind + Rogla +. The Colombian did not last forever in the Alps, giving up after the 3rd stage when he was 7th in the general classification, his team citing back pain.

It must be said that the defending champion on the Great Loop had continued since the resumption: despite his retirement from the Dauphiné, he accumulated 10 days of racing before the Tour, the highest total among the big favorites.

Was his removal a way to protect him physically? Not necessarily according to Samuel Bellenoue, the coach of Frenchman Guillaume Martin (3rd in the Dauphiné) at Cofidis, who expected him "more above the rest" in the last preparation race before the Tour in the light of his long training sessions. in altitude at his home, in Zipaquira, perched at more than 2,500 m, before his arrival on July 20 in Europe.

"Given the rivalry with Jumbo, did they also want to avoid that psychologically Jumbo score points?", Samuel Bellenoue sketches.

- Roglic cultivates doubt -

Faced with this strategy of Ineos, the men in yellow also sowed doubt. First with the surprise abandonment of Roglic, then leader of the Dauphiné, on the morning of the 5th and last stage the day after a crash.

A doubt cultivated by the Slovenian himself on Instagram: "I honestly thought that I would feel better now after my fall on the Dauphiné", he wrote a week ago in a message accompanying a photo of him s 'driving on rollers.

"When 10 days go by without being able to make intensity, at the level of the organism, there are small things that go wrong a little and we do not find the ideal carburetion behind, Samuel Bellenoue analyzes. momentum ".

In the worst case, his teammate Tom Dumoulin, after 420 days without a race between injury and Covid-19, showed an ascending form on the Tour de l'Ain (11th) then the Dauphiné (7th) and offers another card to play Jumbo. In line with the two-headed leadership brought up to date by Ineos in recent years.

The recall of Carapaz, who was not the announced leader of Movistar during his coronation on the Tour of Italy, can also be read as a way for Dave Brailsford not to put all his eggs in the basket of Egan Bernal.

And for good reason: in addition to the usual falls and days without over three weeks, the team leaders are this year at the mercy of a positive Covid-19 case.

© 2020 AFP