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Soooo Rowe.Carapaz
Thomas
Porte
Dennis
Hart
Kwiatkowski
Van Baarle
I think all of the above are sure of their spot and for the last spot it is between:
Amador
Rowe
It is basically choosing between Carapaz and Thomas ' favourite teammate.
He was climbing well in February put got concussion in Paris-Nice which set him back, he will be fine for the TDF.
Despite all that, I think their best shot at beating BOTH Roglic and Podgacar is having the “2nd card” to play with Caracas, attacking from farther out and forcing the Slovenians to decide whether to follow or not. I’m not saying it will necessarily wirjSo during the Tour Ineos will have: a Tour winner (3 years ago), two Giro winners (1 and 2 years ago) and a Tour podium finisher (last edition). Huge power to control mountain stages and/or (more interestingly) collectively attack other teams/riders. And let's remember they have also another Tour/Giro winner (Bernal) as well as Yates, Martinez, Sivakov. They could theoretically assemble a squad consisted of GT contenders only, ridiculous. No wonder Chris chose a well-paid retirement job.
Despite all that, I think their best shot at beating BOTH Roglic and Podgacar is having the “2nd card” to play with Caracas, attacking from farther out and forcing the Slovenians to decide whether to follow or not. I’m not saying it will necessarily wirj
A lot will probably be determined by Thomas' performance in the first ITT. Their best bet is benefitting from Roglic and Pogacar looking at each other probably, My guess is Jumbo will be slightly less strong than last year, but then UAE will probably be quite a bit better. IMO it's a problem that Carapaz is quite likely to lose in the vicinity of 3 minutes in the ITTs.Ineos squad is stacked top to bottom, but the heavy favorites ride for other teams.
Although cycling has team aspect, ultimately it is an individual sport so imho it will be very hard for them to win the tour.
Leaving basically 3 riders near the top of the classification will be extremely important and then it will take some brilliant tactic to beat the Slovenians. I think the Tour will be exciting for this very reason - Ineos will have to attack left and right, and they do have resources to destroy the peleton early in the race to give their leaders a shot at long-range attempt.
A lot will probably be determined by Thomas' performance in the first ITT. Their best bet is benefitting from Roglic and Pogacar looking at each other probably, My guess is Jumbo will be slightly less strong than last year, but then UAE will probably be quite a bit better. IMO it's a problem that Carapaz is quite likely to lose in the vicinity of 3 minutes in the ITTs.
I guess it will depend on their tactics. If they want to control the race in most places but mountains you take Rowe. If you want a more attacking team and put riders in breakaways, then you have to go with Amador.Carapaz
Thomas
Porte
Dennis
Hart
Kwiatkowski
Van Baarle
I think all of the above are sure of their spot and for the last spot it is between:
Amador
Rowe
It is basically choosing between Carapaz and Thomas ' favourite teammate.
I guess it will depend on their tactics. If they want to control the race in most places but mountains you take Rowe. If you want a more attacking team and put riders in breakaways, then you have to go with Amador.
I would not understand if Ineos wanted to control the race. They don't have to do that anymore. That right goes to other 2 teams, not Ineos. The tactics needs to change from previous editions. They don't have the hot favorite anymore. They have a bunch of good riders, but not the main favorite.
Roglic, Kruijswijk, Kuss, Vingegaard, Van Aert, Teunissen, Martin and GesinkWho is Jumbo likely taking to the Tour? Are we gonna see the infamous Clash of Trains that didn't materialize last year?
Sorry, didn’t mean to contradict you—was just emphasizing, as you did, that Ineos has several potent tools to use even if their riders are not the outright favorites.That's what I meant by "collective attack". Attack with one GC contender forcing rivals to chase tiring them out and then attack with another once the first one is caught.
Obviously another form of collective attack (2-3 strong guys cooperating to put time into rivals) is also an option. They can make Slovenians life difficult - at least Roglic has a superb team to rely on but Pogacar doesn't (but it's better than last year).
We need that stick-figure fish (is that what it is) cartoon meme, shouting “Let’s all do the Vuelta”Carapaz, Bernal, Sivakov, Yates and Pidcock all down to do La Vuelta. This is getting ridiculous now.
Pretty much all are doing the VueltaWe need that stick-figure fish (is that what it is) cartoon meme, shouting “Let’s all do the Vuelta”![]()
Do we know about Adam Yates' plans btw?
Pretty much all are doing the VueltaAt this rate 80% of the field will try to finish top 10.
You forgot about Porte and TGH - their TT should be better and the team may sacrifice one or two of them for an attack that Pog&Rog will have to cover.
Some top GC riders are going to end up finishing 8th and it will not be because they rode a bad race.