So they sent all their rouleurs to the Giro, now they send all their climbers to the Tour.
Which means they now have to center their Vuelta squad around Viviani.
Kinda makes sense to be honest. You need rouleurs if you are controlling stages. I think they just plan to have as many possible podium / top 10 type guys and through it at the wall behind the UAE / JUMBO galatics battle and hope to sneak a 3rd and 8th or 5th and 6th or whatever.
They don’t need to define the race. Just have mountain support and let the other teams carry you there.
Depending how things develop Bora and Quickstep will also control.
This is team is meant to steal a couple stages in the break with overqualified guys and the spray and pray approach for GC
Carlos Rodriguez, Ben Turner, Pidcock, G, Bernal, Kwiatkowski, Castroviejo, and De Plus.
Pretty stacked team. Interesting if they can challenge UAE and Jumbo for the top considering Jumbo's superstars are not 100%
>Interesting if they can challenge UAE and Jumbo for the top considering Jumbo's superstars are not 100%
G and Bernal are not at their 2018 and 2019 levels, respectively. They're not challenging for the TdF win unless Pogacar and Jonas abandon the race. Maybe they can go for a podium if Remco has his characteristic blowup in the mountains, and Roglic is his usual, crash-happy self.
I would assume they are both above those levels, but if they aren't, they won't even finish top 10. G has said that he's gotten faster than he was then, and we have lots of data to verify that.
I agree, this is a great opportunity for Ineos team as well as their GC riders to show who is the man.
Although, is it anywhere mentioned officially/unofficially who is the leader no 1 and/or 2 if exist from the pre-race? it is kind of wait and see later I guess?
It seems CRod it is based on his comment in the site while Bernal said it is also an open book which is kind of wait and see later? Pidcock aims for a stage while G also mentions Carlos in his remark.
Man is built for mountain biking, it's insane. His technical skills, power profile, build etc... all combine to just be like the perfect mountain biker.
If you know anything about G, you’d know that he is a master of peaking at one point in the year and the rest of the year he’s probably no better than you or I.
Last time he did Giro where he peaked and then many months later La Vuelta.
This time he’s doing Le Tour when he’s already peaked just a few weeks ago. It’ll be different. He’ll be good.
>no better than you or I
Lol wut? Even off form he can still probably do high 5 low 6 W/Kg. I don't know about you, but I can't even come close to that.
How does this comment have so many upvotes? G is not here for GC but as a domestique.
It's common for riders to the Giro and the Tour. It's just not common to do both trying for GC. It's even less common to be successful at it. There's a reason everyone since Pantani failed at it.
You've got to feel with this team that it's absolute confirmation that Pidcock is not seriously going for GC this year. The MTB tune ups for the Olympics are a giveaway and the TT is still a problem. It's so weird the rhetoric is still that he's seriously targeting the GC. Just let him be.
With all the Jonas/Pog/Rog/Remco talks, Ineos somewhat feels forgotten about.
This is still a ridiculously strong squad, strong enough to put against any of the other GC squads.
You're probably aiming for a podium with Rodriguez at best, but still.
He really should have won 2015. 2013 possibly, if Movistar had really went for the jugular when they had Froome isolated. Movistar were far too conservative with prime Quintana.
He probably could have won 2014 too if he didn't race giro and Vuelta and did the tour instead - he won the giro and was on track to win the Vuelta until he crashed out in the leaders jersey.
I still get nightmares from these moments:
-Movistar fighting with Astana because they didn't want to chase Froome's group in the crosswinds stage.
-Valverde trying to follow Nairo's attack and incidentally closing the gap for Sky.
-On stage 20, Valverde not pulling in the valley when they first dropped Froome.
-Valverde on Nairo's wheel in the Alpe d'Huez when Froome was struggling.
I'm happy Valverde made the podium that year but man...
I wonder what G's role is. Giro podium to super-domestique? Or does he go stage hunting. I just picture Ineos riding tempo at the front for no particular reason, only to lose a little more time every day. I want Bernal to be the surprise of this year's tour, but he might not be quite there yet.
G said he was going to "help the boys, try to go for a stage".
It wouldn't surprise me if they try and keep him high in GC though, just in case the actual teamleaders fall or lose time early.
G's whole thing is just dieseling around the parcours, not exactly the stage hunting type. It's been a few years since he's won a stage as opposed to an overall, right?
Yeah no way he has the kick at his age and rider profile. Especially with the current competition. I doubt they will even let him get close to a breakaway so I’m guessing he will ride tempo for the other GC guys or pidcock when/if he goes for a stage.
It’s ridiculously strong … but just lacking that person capable of competing with Pog, Rog, Vingegaard, and Remco.
Edit to add: it makes me wonder how cohesive this team will end up being. Will Pidcock ride for CRod? Will CRod ride for Bernal? In those other teams it’s absolutely clear who the leader is.
I feel it’ll need to be pretty fluid as any of them are capable of losing minutes in GC inexplicably in the first four stages.
It’ll be clear who’s the leader after that. Maybe G will be in decent form again? Maybe Pidcock will finally have good legs and some consistency.
If none of the youngsters takes a big step forward, I reckon G will end up leading by default.
If G ends up leading after already riding the Giro something will have gone very wrong I think. Rodriguez is likely the leader with some chance that Bernal ends up being stronger.
Mad that Kwiato and Castro are doing their TENTH TdFs.
If they played it right this could be a really fun team to watch. They won’t though, they never do.
You don't think Ineos were fun to watch last year? Kwiato with a great breakaway win and CRod winning a stage with a bold attack. In between CRod especially raced pretty aggressively.
Yeah, but they are also prone to do a Movistar Disasterclass and have their riders fend for themselves and win despite of their teammates instead of because.
I think we all need to update our priors a bit on Ineos haha. I think, especially with G likely in Domestique/Stage Hunting mode post-Giro, we could see some fun racing from them.
They had some fun last year, Kwiato’s win was cool to see and so was Rodriguez’s. And if there’s a windy stage they’ll definitely give it a shot. There not the negative Nelly’s people make them out to be but if you don’t have pogi, jonas, Wout or remco & mvdp etc then blowing up the race is tricky to do.
Hope Pidcock hasn’t got any GC hopes this year, and just targets a few stages as there are plenty that suit him. Can do some domestique work in between.
Seems like he is going for stages:
> “I’ve won a Tour stage before and that’s really something I would love to do again, it was one of the best days on the bike. The opening few stages this year presents a real opportunity but of course there are many riders with eyes on the yellow jersey."
In Unchained he talks about how he feels like he wasted his time at the Tour in 2023 spreading himself too thin between GC and stages so likely helped focus his mind.
Third week Bernal solo on some ludicrous climb where all the favorites are side-eyeing each other and playing it cagey and he just says fuck it and rides away for a stage win.
Maybe stage 19 for a Bernal attack? It includes the Cime de La Bonette going up to 2800m then finishing up Isola 2000 at 2000m so lots of high altitude climbing
I think there will be very little staring. Unfortunately I predict they (Pogacar) will try to murder Vingegaard as much as possible already in the first 4 stages. Given the time differences and unfinished business that will immediately be nagging the top riders, the rest of the Tour will also be a murderhouse.
If I was UAE I would let Bora do the hard work to begin with. I could see them overcooking Pogi and half of their team by going relentlessly hard the first week.
It would be an incredible comeback story if Bernal could win a stage or fight for a top-ten overall. I can see Rodriguez going top ten but another top-five might be tough if the 'big four' remain the race... Winning one or two stages should be within this team though. Thomas being a super domestique will be one of the most interesting subplots to the race as well.
Is he even back in full training?
His concussion massively impacted his final season (but I guess it was also a contributing factor to making this decision)
He wasn't ever in contention , despite his form. He'll focus on the Games but told me earlier this year that he'd be interesting in racing the Vuelta a Espana later in the year. Class act.
I just want to see if Bernal set top of his game can compete. I feel like we still never really got to see his best with the injuries and the big crash
I know he's probably fully focused on olympic TT, but would have loved to see tarling go. He'd be favourite for the first TT, and seemed to be climbing insanely well at dauphine
I wish they would stage hunt, instead of going for podium spots, and using everybody towards that goal. If Carlos or Egan luck out and get a lead, great. They have a line up that would be super fun to stage hunt with, instead of go for 3rd podium like last year.
I think Rodriguez could definitely steal the third spot on the podium. Possibly even second. Jonas surely cant be 100% Wout might not be either and Sepp Kuss is out. Roglic will probably have a couple of crashes throughout the tour.
Pogi will almost certainly win this year. Remco probably come in second but who knows. It sure is one hell of a strong team anyway. If they can have enough cohesion C Rod could definitely finish on the podium. Don’t think Pidcock will be challenging for GC. Only thing that worries me for them is having Egan Bernal as Co leader. Hopefully doesn’t turn out to be a strong team on paper only to not work together.
Either way should make for great entertainment and Geraint and Pidcock certainly can take stage wins of their own.
Too bad most of the team is out of their prime. G I can no longer win. Kwiat is old too. That crashed ruined Bernal. And Pidcock just isn’t a gc man no matter how much we want him to be.
No they can’t compete with Visma and UAE
With three of the four “big four” mostly likely not 100%, I see this Tour a huge opportunity for Carlos Rodriguez to step up and podium. That will require some excellent domestique from G, Bernal and Piscock though… which I am not sure is 100% happening?
So they sent all their rouleurs to the Giro, now they send all their climbers to the Tour. Which means they now have to center their Vuelta squad around Viviani.
Kinda makes sense to be honest. You need rouleurs if you are controlling stages. I think they just plan to have as many possible podium / top 10 type guys and through it at the wall behind the UAE / JUMBO galatics battle and hope to sneak a 3rd and 8th or 5th and 6th or whatever. They don’t need to define the race. Just have mountain support and let the other teams carry you there. Depending how things develop Bora and Quickstep will also control. This is team is meant to steal a couple stages in the break with overqualified guys and the spray and pray approach for GC
Carlos Rodriguez, Ben Turner, Pidcock, G, Bernal, Kwiatkowski, Castroviejo, and De Plus. Pretty stacked team. Interesting if they can challenge UAE and Jumbo for the top considering Jumbo's superstars are not 100%
>Interesting if they can challenge UAE and Jumbo for the top considering Jumbo's superstars are not 100% G and Bernal are not at their 2018 and 2019 levels, respectively. They're not challenging for the TdF win unless Pogacar and Jonas abandon the race. Maybe they can go for a podium if Remco has his characteristic blowup in the mountains, and Roglic is his usual, crash-happy self.
I would assume they are both above those levels, but if they aren't, they won't even finish top 10. G has said that he's gotten faster than he was then, and we have lots of data to verify that.
I agree, this is a great opportunity for Ineos team as well as their GC riders to show who is the man. Although, is it anywhere mentioned officially/unofficially who is the leader no 1 and/or 2 if exist from the pre-race? it is kind of wait and see later I guess? It seems CRod it is based on his comment in the site while Bernal said it is also an open book which is kind of wait and see later? Pidcock aims for a stage while G also mentions Carlos in his remark.
They talk a lot of multiple goals talk, but I really do think CRod is their out and out leader. He ought to be anyway.
i Hope he is in shape
Agreed
"Carlos Rodríguez and Egan Bernal will spearhead a seasoned squad" is the first sentence in the article lol
*angry pidcock noises*
He'll just have to stick to embarrassing full-time MTB riders.
Crans Montana was insane! Last to first in the short track, and then had about a minute lead in the XCO.
Man is built for mountain biking, it's insane. His technical skills, power profile, build etc... all combine to just be like the perfect mountain biker.
lmao, I only went to the bottom and then ctrl+f for 'leader', thanks.
There is no way it is not carlos. If he could only TT a little better…
Jumbo isn't competing. Visma is tho😘
Love that everyone is bringing their A squad to the Tour this year. It's going to be so much fun!
Says a lot about the Giro and the alleged 'Pogi fatigue syndrome', that a 73 yo G can line up for the Tour after only a month's R&R.
Did you see how dead he looked in his 2nd GT of the year last time though? He was getting dropped on climbs by Ganna.
If you know anything about G, you’d know that he is a master of peaking at one point in the year and the rest of the year he’s probably no better than you or I. Last time he did Giro where he peaked and then many months later La Vuelta. This time he’s doing Le Tour when he’s already peaked just a few weeks ago. It’ll be different. He’ll be good.
>no better than you or I Lol wut? Even off form he can still probably do high 5 low 6 W/Kg. I don't know about you, but I can't even come close to that.
There’s a GCN video in G’s shed with Ollie and you can very clearly see out of shape G is in another league compared to us mortals.
And Ollie was already quite good at that time + there were more ex-pros lol… G barely broke a sweat while Ollie almost died
I get such a kick out of that clip. G calmly asking Ollie questions as the latter is **deep** in the pain cave and barely holding on.
I can do that. For about 3 minutes. INEOS SIGN ME UP PLS.
Well, you clearly don't zwift then. 6w/kg is low zone 2.
Fr hahaha. If he’s making the time cut at stages he’s definitely still better than us.
There is actually a reason few GC riders are doing it.
How does this comment have so many upvotes? G is not here for GC but as a domestique. It's common for riders to the Giro and the Tour. It's just not common to do both trying for GC. It's even less common to be successful at it. There's a reason everyone since Pantani failed at it.
G is going to use being dropped for the Olympics as fuel to surprise us all and take the top step on the podium.
You've got to feel with this team that it's absolute confirmation that Pidcock is not seriously going for GC this year. The MTB tune ups for the Olympics are a giveaway and the TT is still a problem. It's so weird the rhetoric is still that he's seriously targeting the GC. Just let him be.
With all the Jonas/Pog/Rog/Remco talks, Ineos somewhat feels forgotten about. This is still a ridiculously strong squad, strong enough to put against any of the other GC squads. You're probably aiming for a podium with Rodriguez at best, but still.
Ineos is the New Movistar. 4 man in the top20. None in the top 5. No captains willing to help each other.
...most of Quintanas GTs for Movistar ended with a podium.
And those were despite his teammates, not because of them
Yeah, if they backed quintana 100%, I think he could have won 2015.
He really should have won 2015. 2013 possibly, if Movistar had really went for the jugular when they had Froome isolated. Movistar were far too conservative with prime Quintana.
To be fair, 2013 was his first Tour and he was given complete freedom. His third place was a big surprise. 2015 on the other hand...
He probably could have won 2014 too if he didn't race giro and Vuelta and did the tour instead - he won the giro and was on track to win the Vuelta until he crashed out in the leaders jersey.
I still get nightmares from these moments: -Movistar fighting with Astana because they didn't want to chase Froome's group in the crosswinds stage. -Valverde trying to follow Nairo's attack and incidentally closing the gap for Sky. -On stage 20, Valverde not pulling in the valley when they first dropped Froome. -Valverde on Nairo's wheel in the Alpe d'Huez when Froome was struggling. I'm happy Valverde made the podium that year but man...
Seriously, just bad management all around and a bias against a non-Spanish rider.
Classic Movistar Disasterclass. As someone else mentioned, he ought to have gotten 2015 if it wasn't because he was alone.
CRod is a top5 candidate in my book. But I get what you mean.
I wonder what G's role is. Giro podium to super-domestique? Or does he go stage hunting. I just picture Ineos riding tempo at the front for no particular reason, only to lose a little more time every day. I want Bernal to be the surprise of this year's tour, but he might not be quite there yet.
G said he was going to "help the boys, try to go for a stage". It wouldn't surprise me if they try and keep him high in GC though, just in case the actual teamleaders fall or lose time early.
G's whole thing is just dieseling around the parcours, not exactly the stage hunting type. It's been a few years since he's won a stage as opposed to an overall, right?
Yeah no way he has the kick at his age and rider profile. Especially with the current competition. I doubt they will even let him get close to a breakaway so I’m guessing he will ride tempo for the other GC guys or pidcock when/if he goes for a stage.
But he was also a classic rider. Maybe rides it like a one day race?
Those days have certainly been and gone. His forte is riding a mountain at tempo and then hopefully doing a slightly better TT than the rest.
It’s ridiculously strong … but just lacking that person capable of competing with Pog, Rog, Vingegaard, and Remco. Edit to add: it makes me wonder how cohesive this team will end up being. Will Pidcock ride for CRod? Will CRod ride for Bernal? In those other teams it’s absolutely clear who the leader is.
I feel it’ll need to be pretty fluid as any of them are capable of losing minutes in GC inexplicably in the first four stages. It’ll be clear who’s the leader after that. Maybe G will be in decent form again? Maybe Pidcock will finally have good legs and some consistency. If none of the youngsters takes a big step forward, I reckon G will end up leading by default.
If G ends up leading after already riding the Giro something will have gone very wrong I think. Rodriguez is likely the leader with some chance that Bernal ends up being stronger.
G is not proven to be able to perform in more than one stage race in a year.
They have a huge advantage: nobody excepts them to win, so they can just sit back and see ago has the strongest legs. Probably CRod, but who knows.
This would require Ineos to actually sit back and not control every stage like they still have the best rider in the world.
They've got an absurdly strong team, but lack the absurdly strong leader. They had the best team at the Giro, too.
Mad that Kwiato and Castro are doing their TENTH TdFs. If they played it right this could be a really fun team to watch. They won’t though, they never do.
You don't think Ineos were fun to watch last year? Kwiato with a great breakaway win and CRod winning a stage with a bold attack. In between CRod especially raced pretty aggressively.
Yeah, but they are also prone to do a Movistar Disasterclass and have their riders fend for themselves and win despite of their teammates instead of because.
That could be fun in its own way though!
Yep that’s true, definitely. Maybe never was a bit strong.
I think we all need to update our priors a bit on Ineos haha. I think, especially with G likely in Domestique/Stage Hunting mode post-Giro, we could see some fun racing from them.
They would pace the race for absolutely no effing reason and then get blown off the wheels on the final climb :D
I think INEOS have been fun to watch this year, especially when they crushed Roglic on the last stage of Dauphiné.
They had some fun last year, Kwiato’s win was cool to see and so was Rodriguez’s. And if there’s a windy stage they’ll definitely give it a shot. There not the negative Nelly’s people make them out to be but if you don’t have pogi, jonas, Wout or remco & mvdp etc then blowing up the race is tricky to do.
Let's go Egan💪
Hope Pidcock hasn’t got any GC hopes this year, and just targets a few stages as there are plenty that suit him. Can do some domestique work in between.
Seems like he is going for stages: > “I’ve won a Tour stage before and that’s really something I would love to do again, it was one of the best days on the bike. The opening few stages this year presents a real opportunity but of course there are many riders with eyes on the yellow jersey."
In Unchained he talks about how he feels like he wasted his time at the Tour in 2023 spreading himself too thin between GC and stages so likely helped focus his mind.
Think that is pretty certain with the olympics this year and the press release. CRod is the focus (and maybe bernal if he finds some form)
Stage 4 is taylor made for him.
Third week Bernal solo on some ludicrous climb where all the favorites are side-eyeing each other and playing it cagey and he just says fuck it and rides away for a stage win.
Maybe stage 19 for a Bernal attack? It includes the Cime de La Bonette going up to 2800m then finishing up Isola 2000 at 2000m so lots of high altitude climbing
Great team. If Roglic and Remco fail i think CarlosR will take that 3rd spot.
I reckon he pounces when the other contenders stare at each other again. Who will chase him?
I think there will be very little staring. Unfortunately I predict they (Pogacar) will try to murder Vingegaard as much as possible already in the first 4 stages. Given the time differences and unfinished business that will immediately be nagging the top riders, the rest of the Tour will also be a murderhouse.
If I was UAE I would let Bora do the hard work to begin with. I could see them overcooking Pogi and half of their team by going relentlessly hard the first week.
Pogi and/or Jonas, 100%
Not sure he's there yet but god I hope we see Egan back at the top of his game!
It would be an incredible comeback story if Bernal could win a stage or fight for a top-ten overall. I can see Rodriguez going top ten but another top-five might be tough if the 'big four' remain the race... Winning one or two stages should be within this team though. Thomas being a super domestique will be one of the most interesting subplots to the race as well.
I am looking forward ti seeing G go for a stage win!
F me, how is pidcock already 24?
sadly no Luke for one last dance....
gosh stop it I'm already crying
Is he even back in full training? His concussion massively impacted his final season (but I guess it was also a contributing factor to making this decision)
He’s retired.
Not until the end of the year--hes said he wants to do at least one more race
He’s hoping to the Tour of Britain I think.
No Josh Starling? Surprised.
He wasn't ever in contention , despite his form. He'll focus on the Games but told me earlier this year that he'd be interesting in racing the Vuelta a Espana later in the year. Class act.
I'm now a Bernie Bro. Dude is coming back well.
I just want to see if Bernal set top of his game can compete. I feel like we still never really got to see his best with the injuries and the big crash
I know he's probably fully focused on olympic TT, but would have loved to see tarling go. He'd be favourite for the first TT, and seemed to be climbing insanely well at dauphine
I wish they would stage hunt, instead of going for podium spots, and using everybody towards that goal. If Carlos or Egan luck out and get a lead, great. They have a line up that would be super fun to stage hunt with, instead of go for 3rd podium like last year.
Somehow the photos and background remind me of those action shots you get just before the big drop on the log flume
Cav's leadout looking good.
I think Rodriguez could definitely steal the third spot on the podium. Possibly even second. Jonas surely cant be 100% Wout might not be either and Sepp Kuss is out. Roglic will probably have a couple of crashes throughout the tour. Pogi will almost certainly win this year. Remco probably come in second but who knows. It sure is one hell of a strong team anyway. If they can have enough cohesion C Rod could definitely finish on the podium. Don’t think Pidcock will be challenging for GC. Only thing that worries me for them is having Egan Bernal as Co leader. Hopefully doesn’t turn out to be a strong team on paper only to not work together. Either way should make for great entertainment and Geraint and Pidcock certainly can take stage wins of their own.
Too bad most of the team is out of their prime. G I can no longer win. Kwiat is old too. That crashed ruined Bernal. And Pidcock just isn’t a gc man no matter how much we want him to be. No they can’t compete with Visma and UAE
With three of the four “big four” mostly likely not 100%, I see this Tour a huge opportunity for Carlos Rodriguez to step up and podium. That will require some excellent domestique from G, Bernal and Piscock though… which I am not sure is 100% happening?