LONDON—Former Tour de France champions Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas were both left off the Ineos team on Wednesday for this year’s race.
Ineos announced its selections for the pandemic-affected season with its top riders allocated to each of the three major stage races.
Defending Tour champion Egan Bernal will lead the team in France from August 29 to September 20, denying Froome a chance to tie the record of five titles. Lance Armstrong’s seven wins were retrospectively wiped out because of doping.
Froome will lead the team at the Spanish Vuelta from October 20 to November 8. That will give the British rider, who won the Vuelta in 2011 and 2017, more time for his comeback from a horrific crash 14 months ago.
Team Director Dave Brailsford said the later Vuelta start gives Froome “that little bit more time to continue his progress to the top level.”
Froome is in his last season with Ineos before he joins the Israel Start-Up Nation squad.
Thomas, the 2018 Tour champion, will ride in the Giro d’Italia from October 3 to 25.
Richard Carapaz, the 2019 Giro champion, now rides for Ineos and will be Bernal’s main support rider in France.
“Egan will once again target the yellow jersey in France and we are very excited to give last year’s Giro winner, Richard Carapaz, his debut in this year’s Tour also,” Brailsford said, announcing the selection decision on Wednesday morning.
“Geraint will target the Giro and take on the opportunity to double up his Tour de France win with another Grand Tour title, with the aim of being the first Welshman to win it,” he said.
“In turn, Chris Froome will target the Vuelta. Chris is a legend of our sport, a true champion who has demonstrated incredible grit and determination to come back from his crash last year,” he said. “We want to support him to compete for another Grand Tour title and the Vuelta gives him that little bit more time to continue his progress to the top level.
“I am very proud that we have several current, and I am sure future, Grand Tour champions in the team. Selecting the right leader in the right race with the right support team is critical and has meant we have had to analyze all the latest information to make sure we are in the best position possible to optimize our performances in the coming months,” Brailsford added.
Team Ineos will be known as the Ineos Grenadiers for the Tour de France and have a new-look kit design to promote the new 4×4 SUV vehicle recently launched by Ineos Automotive.
Team Ineos will be composed of Bernal, Carapaz, Andrey Amador, Jonathan Castroviejo, Michal Kwiatkowski, Luke Rowe, Pavel Sivakov and Dylan van Baarle.
“We have been analyzing closely how we can win the Tour de France this year and we have a passionate team united by a common purpose, ready to get the job done,” Brailsford said.
Bernal said he liked the balance of the Tour de France squad.
“I’m really excited to have this team around me in this Tour de France,” Bernal, 23, said from the Alps where he is doing some final training after pulling out of the Criterium du Dauphine to avoid worsening a back problem.
“I think we are a young team with Pavel [Sivakov, 23], Richard [Carapaz, 27] and me. But we will enjoy it. We have a young team but also the experience of other riders like Kwiato [Michal Kwiatkowski, 30], Luke Rowe [30] and Castro [Jonathan Castroviejo, 33], so I think it’s a good balance. I’m really happy to be in the Tour team; I’m just going to go there and try to do my best for them and the whole team.”
Bernal suggested Thomas could do well in the Giro d’Italia and that he could possibly support Froome in the Vuelta a España after the Tour de France.
“It’s a bit strange not to have G [Geraint Thomas] and Froomey [Chris Froome] in the Tour but I’m excited to see what G can do in the Giro,” he said. “I think it’s a good Giro for him with the three time trials. I think he gain time there and try to defend in the big mountains.”
“In the Vuelta, who knows, maybe I can go there to try and help Froomey. Now I need to be focused on the Tour but after the Tour I have on plans yet, so it could be a good option,” he added. AP and Cyclingnews