Noticiero El Big Picture del Deporte: Cycling News, Team Ineos has elevated winning the Tour de France to a fine art, leaving just a few crumbs for their rivals

Team Ineos has elevated winning the Tour de France to a fine art, leaving just a few crumbs for their rivals. Team Sky – and now Team Ineos – have shaped the last decade of the men's WorldTour and look set to continue their Tour de France dominance for another decade with Egan Bernal. They could even aim to win all three Grand Tours in 2020. Team Ineos have used their big budget, talented riders and disciplined approach to stack up marginal gains and emerge as the very best super team in the men's WorldTour.

• Team Ineos are arguably the best team of the last decade, having won the Tour de France six times since 2012 while in their former guise of Team Sky, and then a seventh time with Egan Bernal as Team Ineos in 2019.
• Team Ineos are the marmite of pro cycling, with their detractors as numerous as their fans. The team management and sponsors do not seem to care, and Dave Brailsford makes sure his bot-like riders are focused and successful rather than outgoing and original.
• Thomas and Bernal started the Tour de France as joint team leaders, avoiding mishaps and marking Julian Alaphilippe before Bernal made his move on the Col de l'Iseran during the shortened stage to Tignes. He went on to become the first-ever Colombian to win La Grande Boucle and, at just 22, the youngest winner in more than 100 years. Thomas joined him on the podium to give Team Ineos a rare, but indicative, 1-2 in Paris.

Key riders

Egan Bernal: The former mountain-bike racer has always appeared destined for greatness and confirmed it in 2019 with victory at the Tour de France. Bernal oozes class and calm, with his climbing and bike skills making him perfectly suited to the three-week demands of Grand Tour racing. Gianni Savio, who helped Bernal turn professional at 19 and then sold him on to Dave Brailsford, warned it was the start of the Bernal era. It definitely feels like it, and Bernal will be back at the Tour de France in 2020.

Chris Froome: Multiple fractures, including an open femur fracture, would have convinced most 34-year-old riders to retire, but Froome is determined to make a comeback and ride the 2020 Tour de France, even if he faces a race against time to be at his best in July.

Geraint Thomas: The likeable Welshman insists his 2018 Tour de France victory has left him wanting more. However, he turns 34 in May and may have to work for Bernal if he turns down the chance to lead at the Giro d'Italia.

References: 

Cycling News, 2020 Team Preview: Team Ineos, Stephen Farrand, Jan. 3, 2020.

Opinión: Mis favoritos al Tour de Francia 2020, donde muchos pueden soñar en grande

Business: Cycling News, Tour de France 2020 will be no more difficult to control, says Brailsford

Dave Brailsford is confident that the team can succeed in their quest for an eighth title in nine years. 

• "Every year it’s a different puzzle to solve. We’ll take it away, pick it apart and figure it out. In the team, we’ve got riders who can really climb, who can time trial well and, whichever way a Grand Tour goes, we’ve got guys who can cover all the bases."
• "I think there’s a reduction in time trials and flats."
• "Then the last time trial is interesting but they’ve taken the climbing kilometres and spread them throughout the race rather than have them focused on your Alpine and Pyreenean focus stages, which is interesting. It’s more a mid-mountain, all-rounder route. I don’t think that makes it more difficult to control."
• "It’s now a question of sitting down, looking at the Giro, this, then looking at the Vuelta and then deciding who we’re going to tackle the season."

References:

Cycling News, Tour de France 2020 will be no more difficult to control, says Brailsford, October 17, 2019.

Business: Chris Froome explica por qué el triunfo de Egan Bernal en el Tour es fenomenal

Es el cuatro veces ganador del Tour de Francia, Chris Froome, el que en un vídeo corto pero profundo explica la grandeza del triunfo de Egan Bernal. 

En el contenido complementario presento mis análisis de por qué para la industria del ciclismo se abre una nueva era brillante si se sabe explotar esta generación de jóvenes estrellas del ciclismo. 

Chris Froome on Egan Bernal's Tour de France victory

Voy a resaltar lo que me parece más relevante de su explicación:

• Aunque Froome supo desde el primer momento que el talento de Egan Bernal era extraordinario y que iba a tener grandes triunfos en su carrera, nunca pensó que fuera a ganar el Tour de Francia 2019.
• El triunfo de Egan Bernal es fenomenal porque le ha ganado a los mejores ciclistas del mundo. 
• Nunca Froome hubiese soñado un triunfo como el de Egan Bernal a la edad que el prodigio colombiano lo acaba de lograr.
• La vida de Egan va a cambiar totalmente.
• Froome que conoció y disfrutó Colombia, y que entendió el extraordinario amor al ciclismo en Colombia, cree que Egan no sabe aún lo extraordinario que le espera.
• Froome explica algo que es una verdad gigantesca: Para que un equipo como Team Ineos haya ganado 6 de los últimos 7 Tours se necesitan muchas cosas. Eso jamás es producto de la suerte.

Contenido complementario:

Opinión: Egan Bernal, el prodigio colombiano de 22 años que gana el Tour de Francia 2019 apoyado por una milagrosa espiral de eventos

Opinión: Egan Bernal inició la nueva ola de jóvenes excepcionalmente talentosos, ya maduros, que revoluciona el mundo del ciclismo profesional

Opinión: Egan Bernal, el prodigio colombiano campeón del Tour 2019, inicia LA ERA DE LA CREDIBILIDAD en la industria del ciclismo 

Opinión: Mi Top 5 de ciclistas jóvenes estrellas, potenciales ganadores de las Grandes Vueltas, Tour, Giro y Vuelta

Opinión: Análisis de mis 10 favoritos al Tour de Francia 2019, el Tour de la incertidumbre

Opinión: Análisis de mis 4 grandes favoritos al Tour de Francia 2019, el Tour de la incertidumbre