In less than a week, the city of Nice will kick off the 107th edition of the Tour de France. A Grande Boucle which promises to be uncertain. In this particular year upset by the health crisis, the runners lack benchmarks. Who are the favorites? Who will be the outsiders? Egan Bernal, Primoz Roglic, Thibaut Pinot, Nairo Quintana, … Difficult to identify a name even if many observers evoke an Ineos vs Jumbo-Visma match. On the roads of the Tour de Wallonie, the riders have agreed to play the game of predictions. An interesting little probe within the radio platoon.
Caleb Ewan (Lotto – Soudal): “My favorite for the Tour? At the moment, Roglic looks really good “.
Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale): “No idea! They’re all hurt, I think”
Greg Van Avermaet (CCC): “I still think Bernal “
Jelle Vanendert (Bingoal – Wallonia Brussels): ” Tom Dumoulin ! “
Loïc Fly (Circus – Wanty Gobert) : ” I think Roglic “
Florian Senechal (Deceuninck – Quick Step) : “I would put a card on Ineos with Bernal “
Philippe Gilbert (Lotto – Soudal): “We should see how Roglic will recover from his fall, but he seems to me to be the number 1 favorite “
Opinions are divided, but the peloton most often points to 2 names: Egan Bernal and Primoz Roglic. One won the last Tour, the other the Vuelta. The trend is rather favorable to the Slovenian, but on the Dauphiné, the 2 men gave up.
That leaves some doubt 6 days before the big start of the Tour. The only certainty? Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas will not be in the game. The 2 Britons were not selected by the INEOS team.
“It was a difficult decision to make” Explain Luke Rowe, rider of the Ineos team. “We are still talking about a rider who has won the Tour 4 times. The other has won it once and finished 2nd again last year. It is difficult to leave them at home, but we will all put themselves at the service of Egan. And that also gives opportunities to Geraint to go to the Giro and to Chris to go to the Vuelta “.
It is a strong gesture of Dave Brailsford, the boss of Ineos. A page turns in the British team. And this is not really surprising given the state of form of Froome and Thomas on the Dauphiné.
“It’s clear that Froome was not in good shape” notes Bart Audoore, journalist pour Het Laatste Nieuws. “He’s come a long way. He had a very serious injury. In Thomas’s case, I think it was professional misconduct. He had time to prepare. He wasn’t injured, but he did. is not ready for the most important race of the year. It’s amazing that he is not ready for the Tour “.
“Removing Froome and Thomas, that clearly means that we want 7 teammates around Bernal. Full stop.” add Stephane Thirion, journalist for the daily Le Soir. “It’s a strong sign for Jumbo, I think”.
Jumbo-Visma that impresses. With 5 successes in 9 days of racing, Roglic takes on the role of leader. The Dutch team will have to do without Steven Kruijswijk injured, but it can rely on a solid collective …
“The Jumbo Visma dominate the races for the moment with Van Aert, Roglic, Kuss“notes Loïc Fly (Circus – Wanty Gobert). “I think Ineos is a cut below this year. “
“Is Ineos less strong? It is especially Jumbo which seems much stronger ” valued Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale).
“The Tour de France is still an undecided race, because it is long “ precise Philippe Gilbert (Lotto – Soudal). “IA lot can happen. The last week is important. We will see if Roglic is not too early in form and if Bernal has better managed his curve of form “.
Luke Rowe, Egan Bernal’s teammate at Ineos is also impressed by the performance of the Jumbo-Visma armada: “They didn’t win the Dauphiné, but what they did during the first 4 stages of the Dauphiné is incredible. And then, they won the 5th stage with a domestic (editor’s note: Sepp Kuss). They are impressive, but I can’t wait to take on this challenge with the team “.
A major challenge for INEOS. A British formation which has won 7 of the last 8 Tour de France.
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