It was predictable but the explosion is still significant. Chris Froome will not make a last Tour de France with Ineos before leaving the British team. Neither the quadruple winner of the Tour de France Chris Froome nor the winner of the 2018 edition, Geraint Thomas, were in fact selected in his selection of eight riders for the Great Loop (August 29 - September 20) unveiled Wednesday and centered on defending champion Egan Bernal.
“Geraint (Thomas) will aim for the Giro (...). As far as he is concerned, Chris (Froome) will aim for the Vuelta, ”explained the British team in a press release, a few days after the duo performed far from Ineos standards during the Critérium du Dauphiné, the last great preparation race before round.
Bernal "will aim for yellow in Paris"
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 ...), the Briton Froome, leaving next season for the The Israel Start-Up Nation team failed to convince its boss Dave Brailsford to return to his best level.
Our # TDF2020 team is set. We'll see you on the start line in Nice as the INEOS Grenadiers. pic.twitter.com/Pk33M6WTGf
- Team INEOS (@TeamINEOS) August 19, 2020Even if he put himself at the service of the Colombian Bernal on the Tour de l'Ain then the last Dauphiné, “Froomey” 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.
More unexpectedly, the sidelining of Thomas also responds to disappointing performance. The Welshman, co-leader of Ineos on the 2019 Tour which he finished in 2nd place, could not sign better than a 37th place on the Dauphiné where he also gave up a considerable time - almost a hour - on Martinez.
Carapaz in reinforcement
“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 rather difficult start to the Dauphiné.
It is finally the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, winner of the Giro 2018 and initially scheduled to compete in the Giro d'Italia, who will play the role of Team Ineos' second ace on the Great Loop alongside Egan Bernal.
The doubts about the condition of the title holder, whose team had used back pain as an excuse to explain his abandonment on the Dauphiné, are raised. "Egan will aim again for the yellow jersey in France", planted the boss of the former Sky team, Dave Brailsford, who selected Jonathan Castroviejo, Andrey Amador and Pavel Sivakov to accompany them in the mountains.
Former Polish world champion Michal Kwiatkowski, Dutch wheeler Dylan Baarle and usual bodyguard Luke Rowe complete the group.
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