Having piled on the pressure on the front of the race many times on the Tour de France, Ineos Grenadiers has succeeded more often than not in putting its own riders into the red.
On several occasions as its riders pressed hard on the front, even Egan Bernal was seen to slip backwards.
On stage 13 after the team lit it up and then Richard Carapaz went especially hard, Bernal was dropped by his general classification rivals at the end of the stage.
Former Team Sky directeur Sean Yates, who guided Bradley Wiggins to his 2012 Tour de France win, says the team is still riding the way it always has; basing its tactics on having the best rider and going hard on the front to soften up everyone else.
However, Yates said Bernal has not been the strongest
rider so far, yet Ineos Grenadiers appear to be struggling to change their
tactics.
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“Ineos came to the Tour thinking Bernal was the strongest
rider in the peloton,” Yates has said in an interview with French newspaper l’Equipe.
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“Setting the tempo is useful when you have the strongest
rider – the faster the pace you go, the bigger the gaps they can create in the
end. But the best rider is Primoz Roglic. He’s flying.”
Yates also believed pro cycling had progressed in the last few seasons and that Ineos Grenadiers has not kept pace with that, thus other teams have closed the gap on them.
“The level has increased. With each stage, climbing
speeds are bettered, but it seems Bernal hasn’t followed that trend,” Yates
said.
“I question the effect that lock-down in Colombia has had on him, and on the quality of his training. We should question his preparation”
“I think they’re so used to controlling others in a race
that they’re struggling to do anything different.
“When you’ve won so many times, changing is hard. When
your team has three leaders, as should have been the case last year, making the
race hard to weaken rivals is logical.
“But Ineos came to this Tour with one leader, who isn’t
at the level required. They should follow the wheels rather than using their
energy needlessly.”
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