There have been two major themes since racing resumed post lockdown around a month ago. The first has seen riders attempt to build form for the Tour de France, be that sprint form or general classification, or even just getting some racing in the legs so they don’t bonk as soon as the gradient starts heading up. The second has seen riders trying to build form quickly for the myriad of crucial one-day events in Italy. In this piece, I’ll cover who’s done what, and crucially, where everyone stands heading into this weekend’s Grand Depart.
The GC Battle
The Tour de France is being billed by some as a two-horse race between defending champion Egan Bernal and Primož Roglič. The few stage races held since racing resumed have seen full on head-to-heads between Team INEOS and Team Jumbo-Visma as both squads seek to build form for their incredible mountain domestiques. And where that wasn’t the case, the racing just turned into the Remco Evenepoel show. First to strut their stuff were Team INEOS at La Route d’Occitanie, a four stage race held in the South of France. Jumbo weren’t at that one, but the INEOS squad tested out 5 of their Tour roster riders and achieved a 1-2 in the general classification through Bernal and Pavel Sivakov. After that, both Jumbo and INEOS did battle in the mountains around Geneva at the three stage Tour de l’Ain. Time for Jumbo to shine as Roglič beat Bernal to the GC by 18 seconds and there were impressive performances also from George Bennett and Tom Dumoulin.
The Critérium du Dauphiné should have been the final showdown for either team to assert a final warm up blow on their rivals, but the race had other ideas. Roglič took an early lead on the Col de Porte summit finish of stage 2 with Bernal 10 seconds off the pace, and he took another 9 seconds a day later. But any hope of a continued fight went out of the window as Bernal was withdrawn from the race with back pains. Roglič himself was involved in a crash on stage 4 that also took out his teammate Steven Kruijswijk. The Jumbo leader would finish the stage with the group of favourites only to not start stage 5, but Kruijswijk fractured his scapula and is unable to start the Tour at all.
So we start the Tour a little unsure as to either of the main favourite’s form. Jumbo have been playing up Roglič’s issues, other sources say he’s fine, and INEOS are assuring fans that Bernal’s back pains are nothing to worry about. I guess time will tell.
Their withdrawal’s allowed other Tour hopefuls to stretch their legs and there were strong performances from winner Daniel Felipe Martínez of EF Pro Cycling and 2nd place Thibaut Pinot of Groupama – FDJ. The latter also recorded 4th place at La Route d’Occitanie. Emanuel Buchmann of BORA – hansgrohe was on for a good race, but was also taken down in a crash on stage 4. He is fit enough to start the Tour, but we’ll soon see if the crash has had a negative impact on his form. Also showing good form are Nairo Quintana and Guillaume Martin. Tadej Pogačar and Miguel Ángel López were growing in form through the Dauphiné and should be worth watching as well.
The Sprinters Battle
There haven’t been too many opportunities for the sprinters thus far. Most of the smaller stage races have been too covered in mountains to present chances for them. There was also a difficult and almost catastrophic beginning to the Tour de Pologne as a huge crash at the end of stage 1 left several sprinters with serious injuries. Meaning many sprinters won’t be present at the Tour, but of those that are, two have tasted victories since the restart. Sam Bennett of Deceuninck – Quick Step has won twice against mixed opposition and will spearhead his team’s attack on the flat stages. Caleb Ewan of Lotto Soudal has won once, but also recorded 2nd place at the one-day race Milano-Torino. The rider who won that race and has arguably had the most successful month is Arnaud Démare, Goupama – FDJ. However, he is not down to race the Tour and might be heading to the Giro d’Italia instead.
So all in all, there isn’t a great deal to go on. Peter Sagan is once again on the start list and will be hunting for his 8th points jersey, and he’s managed two 4th place finishes so far. Ewan and Bennett appear to be the two favourites for the sprint victories, and elsewhere the competition will come from Elia Viviani, Giacomo Nizzolo (Italian national champion), Wout van Aert (if he is allowed his own opportunities), Matteo Trentin, Alexander Kristoff, Cees Bol or Max Walscheid of Sunweb, or even someone on a pro-continental squad like Bryan Coquard. So it’s a case of ‘the usual suspects’ here, but with some notable absences and that might cause a few surprises, we’ll have to wait and see though.
Teams in Form
Finally, I’ll briefly mention which teams are bringing their best form to La Grande Boucle. There are several teams who have attacked post-lockdown racing with real venom and some who have continued the rather tame way they began the season all those months ago. It probably goes without saying that Deceuninck – Quick Step have kept on with their winning ways picking up 12 wins in 27 days. Of those who tasted victory, only two are heading to the Tour, Sam Bennett and Kasper Asgreen, the new Danish national champion. Julian Alaphilippe has been quietly building form with a 2nd place at Milano-Sanremo and 2nd place in the Critérium mountains classification. The other team managing double figures in victories is Jumbo-Visma who have picked up 10. It should come as no surprise that the two riders who have shared most of these wins are Primož Roglič and Wout van Aert. The other two wins went to George Bennett and Sepp Kuss, who will both form part of Jumbo’s mountain chain for Roglič. It should probably also be mentioned, that Wout van Aert’s wins have been Strade Bianche, Milano-Sanremo, stage 1 of Critérium and the points jersey, and finally the Belgian national time-trial title. So he’s in awesome form.
Elsewhere, Astana and UAE-Team Emirates have efficiently going about their business with 5 and 7 wins respectfully. Most of these haven’t come from the riders on their Tour rosters though. Team INEOS have a few wins courtesy of Egan Bernal and Richard Carapaz, and Mitchelton-Scott have enjoyed some success too, but again not from their Tour squad. The other team who’ve had a very successful return to racing is Groupama -FDJ, but nearly all of that has come from one man, the aforementioned Arnaud Démare. Groupama have yet to finalise their roster, but Démare is not expected to go. Their hopes will likely lie with Thibaut Pinot in a hunt for yellow.
Another team I haven’t mentioned is BORA – hansgrohe who picked up a lot of wins at the Sibiu Cycling Tour in Romania. The competition there wasn’t the best, but they have been showing some good form since then. Lennard Kämna recorded an impressive win for them on stage 4 of the Critérium du Dauphiné. Their results at that race might have been more notable had Buchmann not crashed out. We can only hope he’s recovered in time for the Tour because he was on for a podium result. Other teams are lagging a little behind, but who knows, maybe they’re saving themselves for Saturday. It has been quite a brief run up to the first grand tour of the year and we’ll see who has adapted to this new and strange calendar the best.
The Pelotonian 