Sean Kelly believes, in the heat of tough racing, the harmony Team Sky envisages between Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome may fall by the wayside.
Former Vuelta winner and king of the classics, Sean Kelly, believes Geraint Thomas’s higher stature in the pro peloton may cause tension with Chris Froome next year.
Kelly believes while Thomas is the Tour champion, it was possible Team Sky may want him to focus on the Giro next year.
Aside from that, he believes having two riders in Team Sky who have won the last two Tours and could both win again next year has the potential to cause serious problems.
“Will they try to get G to win the Giro and see what happens in the Tour and then let Froome really put everything into the Tour?" Kelly said.
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"That's something I think they would like to do. But would the riders be happy with that? It's going to be difficult for Sky to make everyone happy."
Geraint Thomas has not been shy in outlining some of the things he was unhappy about during this year’s Tour.
While he gained almost one minute on Froome after the Giro champion crashed on stage 1, Team Sky was unwilling to compromise in any way on its full backing of Froome.
For example, it informed Thomas the riders would only wait on one rider if they had a mechanical in the stage 3 TTT; Chris Froome.
And even though Thomas was 2nd overall after stage 9 and had almost one minute on Froome, again the team backed Froome completely.
The team’s eight air cons tripped the electricity in the hotel. Management decided only one rider could have a unit; Chris Froome.
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Froome has won four Tours, a Giro and Vuelta and can win any of them again next year. But Thomas is the current Tour champion and that makes it more challenging to balance what are inevitably competing expectations.
However, Thomas went on to show he was by far the strongest in the race. But before it was over, Froome was still given full leeway to attack.
Thomas said his team mate informed him when he was going to try to get away. And he believed this was an example of them not riding against each other.
He added if they continued to be honest with each other, they could ride well together. Curiously, he did not envisage Froome riding for him.
But he said if Froome was the strongest in the mountains in a Grand Tour he’d ride for the four-time Tour winner.
Sean Kelly is not so sure. He believes well-intentioned plans to ride as a unit can go by the wayside when the riders are 'in the moment' on a tough climb.
And he believed Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford has a job on his hands managing two riders who have proven they can win Grand Tours in the next few seasons.
"If (Brailsford) has to go to Thomas and say 'we want you to win the Giro' is he going to be happy with that? It could get complicated.
"G might say 'hey, I won the Tour this year so why can't I go back and try and win it again?'
"You can have co-leaders. But sometimes when it's in the heat of the moment and you are in the proper climbs in the race and the adrenaline is flowing things can go wrong.
"They can start fighting each other and the other members of the team can feel that.
“If there's rivalry between riders, the helpers in the team might be closer to one more than the other and then it can create divides."
Aside from Froome and Thomas; Sean Kelly believes Mark Cavendish can win four more Tour stages to equal the 34 of Eddy Merckx.
"This year will be very important,” he said of the coming season for Cavendish, who has been beset with illness and crashes.
“If he doesn't win, you start to doubt yourself. If he wins some big sprints next year then that could set him up. If not. it will be difficult to get back."
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