You Won’t See Chris Froome or Geraint Thomas in This Year’s Tour de France
Team INEOS announced the eight-man squad for this year’s Tour de France—and previous Tour winners Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas were left off the roster.
The team will be led by 2019 Tour winner Egan Bernal.
Froome and Thomas will be focusing on the Vuelta a Espa?a and the Giro d’Italia, respectively.
It’s been a strange year for professional cycling with the global pandemic, and things just got a little stranger. Neither Chris Froome, a four-time Tour de France winner, nor Geraint Thomas, the 2018 Tour de France winner, will be racing for Team INEOS at this year’s Tour.
Instead, last year’s winner Egan Bernal, 23, will lead Team INEOS at the Tour as it gets underway on August 29.
This decision likely has to do with Froome’s and Thomas’s performances as the racing season has started back up again. Specifically, the recent Critérium du Dauphiné is considered a telling precursor to (and fitness indicator for) the Tour; Thomas placed 37th overall, while Froome placed 71st.
Bernal dropped out after Stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné due to back pain but gave a strong showing regardless. He also placed second earlier this month at the Tour de l’Ain.
“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. 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,” team owner Sir Dave Brailsford said in the announcement.
[Want to fly up hills? Climb! gives you the workouts and mental strategies to conquer your nearest peak.]
In July, Froome announced that he will be leaving Team INEOS at the end of the year, when his contract runs out, and signing with Team Israel Start-Up Nation for next year. In that announcement, Froome said he was focused on winning this year’s Tour de France with Team INEOS. Instead, Froome will lead the team at the Vuelta a Espa?a, which starts October 20.
Similarly, Thomas will lead Team INEOS at the Giro d’Italia, which starts October 3.
“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,” Brailsford said.
Team INEOS is undergoing another name change too, and will appear at the Tour as the INEOS Grenadiers, named after a new off-road utility vehicle by INEOS Automotive.
Hit the paywall? Join Bicycling to keep up with the latest Tour de France news!
You Might Also Like
Solve the daily Crossword
