From our special correspondent in Nice
From the start, the Tour distributed the roles. The German Tony Martin, then the Slovenian Primoz Roglic set the pace on Saturday to reduce the pace, limit the risks due to the danger and briefly neutralize the race. The Jumbo-Visma team, a listened spokesperson, was quick to take on the responsibilities that its repeated performances promised it to land on the front line. A position taken throughout the 2nd stage at the head of the peloton, before being upset, disrupted by the fall (apparently without damage) of Tom Dumoulin, one of its leaders.
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Ineos-Grenadiers (formerly Sky, winner of seven of the last eight editions) vs Jumbo-Visma, the duel announced. With for the British team, the impression of being in front of a mirror: comparable means, keen eye for detail (from preparation to logistics, from recovery to strategy), results. Ineos, installed in the professional peloton since 2010, has not invented anything, applying team strategies seen on the Tour with Banesto or the US Postal in the 1990s and 2000s but has established itself as a formidable steamroller. His method, suffocate his rivals, stifle opportunities, tie up the race, crush romanticism. Metallic, mechanical. Implacable. Jumbo-Visma assembles the same ingredients and uses the same recipe. And the student begins to overshadow the teacher, like what she showed for three days during the Dauphiné. “There are two big armadas, Ineos and Jumbo-Visma, we will see them ride at the head of the peloton to protect their leader. I'm afraid the race will be padlocked, ”said Thibaut Pinot before the big start from Nice and the seizure of power by Julian Alaphilippe this Sunday.
Slovenian Primoz Roglic (30 years old; 4th in the 2018 Tour; 1 stage victory in 2017, 1 stage victory in 2018), world no.1, former ski jumper, does not want to limit the Tour to a Jumbo match. Ineos: “Above all, I want us to be focused on ourselves. We will do everything to be on top as an individual and as a team. I don't think too much about the other teams, the other riders. "His Dutch team-mate Tom Dumoulin insisted a few days ago:" It's not a race against Ineos, rather a battle between many riders. There are about twenty runners who can aim for the podium. We will focus on us. I hope we will be close to the podium at the call of the last week. We will then see how to play our cards. "
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Ineos new version, deprived of his compass and his smile Nicolas Portal, his sports director who died last March, also wants to avoid anticipating the face-to-face. The British team has turned the page Christopher Froome (35). The Englishman (winner of the Tour in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017), insufficiently recovered from a terrible fall in June 2019 was not selected (Geraint Thomas, either). Next year he will wear the colors of the Israel Start-Up Nation formation. “We must not look back. We won a lot of things with Chris Froome, we have a lot of experiences together. But we have to look to the present. We worked a lot. Chris was not 100%. He will continue to work in anticipation of the Vuelta. On the Tour, we have a young, mixed team, made up of experienced riders. It will be a great adventure. Jumbo Visma has had a good start to the season, the squad has been good for three, four years, but it would be a mistake for us to focus on a team. We respect everyone. We know how to win this race, we won it several times with different riders (Bradley Wiggins in 2012, Christopher Froome four times, Geraint Thomas in 2018 and Egan Bernal in 2019). We have confidence in our strategy. We have to focus on what we have to do, not on the others, ”assures David Brailsford, manager of Ineos-Grenadiers who rides for the Colombian Egan Bernal (23), the defending champion.
"The Tour de France lasts three weeks, we are not going to play everything to take the yellow jersey in case the race ends earlier"
David BrailsfordThe hierarchy will slowly settle on the Tour, Ineos and Jumbo know each other by heart and will patiently but firmly advance their pawns in what could look like a long and grueling obstacle course. For rival teams, a watchword is not to anticipate a possible interruption of the event: “The Tour de France lasts three weeks, we are not going to play everything to take the yellow jersey in case the race ends earlier, David Brailsford says. We are here for a normal Tour. If that were to change, it will change, but we will run the same way as in recent years. Tom Dumoulin adding: “We don't have a strategic plan to take the yellow jersey in case the race is stopped after ten days. It wouldn't be a real Tour if he was stopped after ten days. We are prepared to win a grand Tour de France… ”
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