Once upon a time… The years in which Ineos Grenadiers and its predecessors won the Grand Tours to order are long gone. There is no shortage of spearheads, but the A-lister is not on the list and the tactical picture often contains gaps. Unless the trip to their second home Nice inspires Ineos to do a number?
If the fire starts to smolder again, context, nuances and interpretations will be discussed, but Tom Pidcock single-handedly stoked the fire in mid-June with a crystal-clear message in an interview that suddenly went viral.
“I decide what my Tour looks like this year, no one else. Otherwise you won’t get anything from me. I have to believe in my Tour mission. I know exactly what I want. It’s not always easy, but the people in my camp know how I work.”
Well. At Ineos Grenadiers, they know what time it is. Multi-talented Pidcock is still only 24 years old, but he knows exactly what he wants to achieve, how he wants to do it and when the time is ripe to harvest. An identity crisis? No, sir.
Pidcock and a classification in the Tour, it is an engagement in which both partners approach the altar with the necessary reservations.
A 16th place in 2022, a 13th place in 2023: these are not exactly noble credentials with which you can convince your future in-laws.
Tom Pidcock won in 2022 op Alpe d’Huez.
Although it is still questionable who exactly went down on his knee. Does Pidcock really want to go to the Tour as a GC rider? Or is he being gently forced by his employer? Yellow is a dream, but the urgency has diminished somewhat for this year.
This Tour features the strongest field of participants in years and peaks in the final week. Those final stages are already dangerously close to Monday 29 July, the day on which Pidcock wants to extend his Olympic mountain bike title.
It is not a hobby that has gotten out of hand, as evidenced by Pidcock’s participation in the MTB World Cup in Crans Montana last Sunday, barely 6 days before the first stage of this Tour.
The shadow of Paris makes reconciling all these goals particularly complex. Pidcock realises this too, as he indicated on Wednesday. “The classification will have to wait until 2025, although I will only consciously let myself sink in the standings in the final.”
Mastermind Portal
Pidcock is still a bit torn between two thoughts, as is Ineos Grenadiers. In any case, it is betting on several horses, an attitude that is dictated by the current value ratios.
In fact, not too much has changed compared to the glory years. Also during the boom with Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas, it produced a star ensemble to die for.
Pidcock, Thomas, Carlos Rodríguez, Egan Bernal and Laurens De Plus: it’s a quintet that you can still go to war with, but there is still a big difference with those golden years. The real striker is no longer on the British payroll.
Old age dean Geraint Thomas must mainly limit himself to following.
Or are we now grossly overlooking Bernal? The old Bernal seemed to have left for a series in 2019 until his new status derailed him, his delicate back became too much and he had to fear the end of his career in 2022 after a horrible training accident.
In principle, the support vehicle can still play with the puppets, but Ineos continues to struggle with its conservative and rigid DNA on the one hand and the more aggressive injection of recent years on the other.
Look at the 2023 Giro: it performed excellently in blocks, but it was too well-reasoned and predictable. After which the Slovenian cap on the nose followed on Monte Lussari.
Tactically, things often go wrong, the picture often collapses like a pudding. Or causes annoyance among cycling enthusiasts.
In this context, reference is often made to the death of sports director Nicolas Portal in 2020. The affable Frenchman was labeled as the brain behind the countless Sky successes.
Netflix
Thomas (38) already indicated that it would not be obvious to double up in the Tour after the Giro, the belief in Carlos Rodriguez is greater. Otherwise Ineos would not have moved heaven and earth to pry the Spaniard out of the hands of Movistar at the end of last year.
Rodriguez took advantage of the G2 rivalry last year on the road to Morzine and finished 5th in the Tour. Nice, but can you expect more from the somewhat grizzled Spaniard?
Of all the leaders, he perhaps deserves the most trust. Bernal’s progress is encouraging and deserves all the praise, but the Colombian does not seem to be steady enough yet.
Rodriguez and Pidcock in the young Tour de France.
No Pidcock in the cockpit? Then it’s questionable whether the Briton will accept Rodriguez’s pole position without any fuss.
It is certainly true that Netflix likes to make an elephant out of a mosquito and that documentary makers regularly play with the truth, but Pidcock was not exactly portrayed as a model teammate in Unchained.
Pidcock was portrayed as a rascal who petulantly ignored the team’s directives in the previous Tour – Rodriguez gradually emerged as the leader, Pidcock had to be subservient.
“Oh well, that I’m the bad guy? So be it,” Pidcock shrugged in Florence. “My relationship with Tom is good,” Rodriguez added.
At Netflix they are undoubtedly already looking forward to a strategy that goes off the rails again. As far as they are concerned, they won’t say no to a British wrong-way driver at the wheel of the 4×4.
Related:
Tour de France
date start – finish type ridetotalwinnerleader
1
29/06 Florence – Rimini
206 km
2
30/06 Cesenatico – Bologna
199,2 km
3
01/07 Piacenza – Turijn
230,8 km
4
02/07 Pinerolo – Valloire
139,6 km
5
03/07 Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne – Saint-Vulbas
177,4 km
6
04/07 Macon – Dijon
163,5 km
7
05/07 Nuits-Saint-Georges – Gevrey-Chambertin
25,3 km
8
06/07 Semur-en-Auxois – Colombey-les-Deux-Églises
183,4 km
9
07/07 Troyes – Troyes
199 km
rest day 08/07
10
09/07 Orléans – Saint-Amand-Montrond
187,3 km
11
10/07 Évaux-les-Bains – Le Lioran
211 km
12
11/07 Aurillac – Villeneuve-sur-Lot
203,6 km
13
12/07 Agent – Pau
165,3 km
14
13/07 Pau – Pla d’Adet
151,9 km
15
14/07 Loudenvielle – Plateau de Beille
197,7 km
rest day 15/07
16
16/07 Gruissan – Nîmes
188,6 km
17
17/07 Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux – Superdévoluy
177,8 km
18
07/18 Gap – Barcelonnette
179,5 km
19
19/07 Embrun – Island 2000
144,6 km
20
20/07 Nice – Col de la Couillole
132,8 km
21
21/07 Monaco – Nice
33,7 km
2024-06-28 05:57:16
#favourites #Tour #4×4 #Ineos #Grenadiers #welloiled #machine
