Chris Froome is not guaranteed a team leader role ahead of Dan Martin next year, even at the Tour de France, according to Israel Start-Up Nation.
Martin has just taken the best Grand Tour finish of his
career, with 4th on the final general classification at La Vuelta.
The Irishman, now aged 34 years, also looked back to his
very best. He took an impressive win, his first for over two years, on stage 3
and climbed with the best on all of the mountain stages except the last day on
the climbs.
While Froome began to show real signs of improvement on
the Vuelta, which was his last race with Ineos Grenadiers before his move for
next season to Israel Start-Up Nation, he was still a long way off his best.
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The four-time Tour de France winner will likely continue to get stronger over the winter after his crash at Criterium du Dauphine in 2019.
However, whether he will ever get back to his previous
level remains an open question and even if he does, that may not happen next
year.
In preparation for Froome joining Israel Start-Up Nation
the team has beefed up its roster by signing riders like Michael Woods, Daryl
Impey, Sep Vanmarcke, Alessandro De Marchi, Paddy
Bevin and Carl Fredrik Hagen, who was 8th overall at La
Vuelta last year.
While those resources have been
lined up to aid Froome, Dan Martin may get the benefit of the improved team; an
asset he was missing at La Vuelta where he had very modest assistance at some
key moments in the race.
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Israel Start-Up Nation’s general manager Kjell Carlström has told a cyclingnews podcast that it would make sense to go into the Tour de France next year with two leaders - Dan Martin and Chris Froome – even though the plan is for Froome to continue improving so he can lead the team.
That’s very good news for Martin and it is likely – unless Froome’s recover now gathers significant pace – that it is Martin who will gain from the team’s added strength at the Tour next year rather than Froome.
Michael Woods, left, and Daryl Impey are coming into Israel Start-Up, among other reinforcements. Dan Martin may get the benefit of that stronger team at the Tour de France next year as the Irishman is being counted into the general classification battle despite the arrival of Chris Froome
"Everything has to go well but that's the idea that
Chris would be our Tour de France leader but at the same time Dan showed great
maturity,” Carlström said.
“Some teams have three potential leaders at the Tour so
it wouldn't be bad to have at least two potential guys to fight for the podium.
It's a good tactic.
"We've seen that Dan Martin was up there and fourth
in the Vuelta and that's a great thing to see.
“When you have a team that works well together and
supports a rider, and that riders are on the right level then anything is
possible. We saw that with Tadej Pogacar, who won the Tour. So everything is
possible.
"We're going to go in the direction of GC at Grand
Tours and with Dan Martin and Chris Froome, and also Michael Woods we have a
decent team.”
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