Culoz (France) (AFP)
The sky has fallen on the heads of ex-Team Sky and its boss Dave Brailsford.
For the first time in six years, a rider from the British team will not win the Tour de France after the monumental failure of Ineos leader Egan Bernal on the slopes of the Grand Colombier on Sunday.
"I was hoping for a miracle, but it is clear that it did not happen. I gave everything, you have to accept when others are stronger. I just could not follow them", observed the holder of the 23-year-old title, who said goodbye to his dreams of a double by dropping nearly seven and a half minutes on the yellow Primoz Roglic jersey.
A page in recent cycling history, opened in 2012 with the coronation of Bradley Wiggins, is turning.
And this time, it was not a twist of fate that brought down the ex-Team Sky deprived of its guide in the field, Nicolas Portal, who died at the beginning of the year.
"I suffered from the first climb, I think I lost about three years of my life on today's stage," said Egan Bernal, without stepping back.
The 2014 Tour de France had only escaped the control of the British team with the abandonment of Chris Froome from the 5th stage after repeated falls.
In this 2020 edition, the picture is much darker.
- The defaulting heir -
After the rout of its former leaders Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas in the preparation races for the Tour de France, it is the heir, the 23-year-old Andean climber to whom some promised years of undivided reign, who collapsed.
In the Grand Colombier, the slender Colombian suffered the first failure of his career.
One of those which lose the Tour.
Zipaquira's child stuck to the tar in the most aesthetic laces of the pass, those which overlook the Rhône, 13 kilometers from the summit.
And the support of 2014 world champion Michal Kwiatkowski and Spanish climber Jonathan Castroviejo were not enough to limit the damage for the ex-armada Ineos (more than 7 minutes), now more of a flotilla.
Even if their presence would probably not have changed anything, the five other teammates of the defending champion had already lost contact even before the final climb: road captain Luke Rowe lowered the flag at the foot of the first climb, then Andrey Amador, Dylan van Baarle and Richard Carapaz were taken down a few hectometers from the first summit.
Pavel Sivakov only held up to a kilometer from the second pass.
- The legs more than the back -
Egan Bernal has never questioned the level of the team, yet far from its golden age.
He did not put the weight of his failure on the back pain that made him leave the Dauphiné early on.
"I can not blame the back pain. Today, my legs hurt more than back pain," said the climber.
Undoubtedly aware of the current limits of his leader, the sporting director of Ineos Gabriel Rasch had opened the door to a scenario different from that expected on Friday: "Of course, he wants to win the Tour but he has his whole career ahead of him", had relativized the Norwegian, urging him to "really not put too much pressure on his shoulders".
A detonating exit within the Ineos success machine.
"We are here to win the race. We are ambitious, we always have been," had also posted Dave Brailsford on the eve of the big start.
But Richard Carapaz's falls - he went ashore on Sunday after having already fallen on the first day - and his ignition delay never allowed Ineos to pose the threat of a second weapon on this Tower. .
A tactic that had worked for the past two years.
Eliminated from the fight for the general classification one week before the arrival in Paris, Ineos enters the unknown.
Starting with Egan Bernal: "Now I just want to get on the bus, breathed the young defeated king. I want to rest, see what the team wants and rethink the race."
© 2020 AFP