Thomas questions Evenepoel’s no-racing Tour de France plan as Seixas faces French pressure

It is now less than a month until the start of the Tour de France. Before we get going in Barcelona for La Grande Boucle, the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is on the schedule. None of the big favourites — Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Remco Evenepoel — are not at the start of what used to be the Critérium du Dauphiné. Geraint Thomas, sports director at Netcompany INEOS, and Luke Rowe, sports director at Decathlon CMA CGM, dig into this new reality.

Thomas cannot imagine that more and more riders are now skipping the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, as he and Rowe still consistently call the Dauphiné. But it is not all that illogical. “Cycling has changed,” he says on his podcast Watts Occurring. “The way people train, the way they prepare for races. Visma | Lease a Bike were one of the first teams to really go big on altitude camps, with fewer races.”

And so Jonas Vingegaard, their team leader, is skipping all the build-up races after winning the Giro d’Italia. Tadej Pogacar will still be racing before the Tour. “Pog does Pog things. Only one-day races, Romandie... He does it all on his own. Although this year he is also doing the Tour de Suisse. But at some point he also did the Tour of Slovenia, right? In recent years there has been less emphasis on the Dauphiné among the big GC riders.”

Remco Evenepoel, leader of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, will also not start the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes or the Tour de Suisse. The Belgian is choosing a 68-day rest period and will try to start the Tour as fresh as possible. It was a long spring for Evenepoel, his team said, but Thomas does not understand much of it.

“I don’t like it,” says the Welshman. “I’m a bit more old school, because you just have to race. I cannot imagine just training for the Tour. You need races. And Remco is a racer, isn’t he? There is also a psychological aspect to it. I always needed that bit of rhythm. But maybe the best guys now do not need that.”

Rowe pushes back against his podcast partner. “We send our best man to the Dauphiné, and you do that with Onley as well. But I fully understand it. You are controlling all the variables.” Why will he then still line up with a Tour-worthy Decathlon CMA CGM team this weekend? Simple: “There is a team time trial in it, just like in the first stage of the Tour de France. Whoever wins that takes the first yellow jersey of the Tour.”

For the French team, Paul Seixas is going for the win in the stage race, before making his Tour debut. “I don’t think he yet understands how big the Tour de France is. The French have been waiting for years for someone who can compete. Whether he can already do that this year, I’m not sure. It will be his first Grand Tour. They pinned their hopes on Pinot and Bardet, who got fairly close. But never close enough to actually win.”

So there is a lot of pressure on the shoulders of the 19-year-old Seixas, but Rowe sees it differently. “Just starting is already a success.” Thomas agrees. “I can’t imagine the French press going to write bad things about him if he does not manage it. It is a win-win for him. The pressure will build in the coming years, but this first time is about new feelings. They want him to win, but they are not expecting it yet.”

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]