Tour de France 2020 – Bahrain McLaren boss: 'It’s not look at Ineos, it’s look at Jumbo-Visma'

ByEurosport

Updated 01/09/2020 at 19:16 GMT

In a wide-ranging interview, Bahrain-McLaren general manager Rod Ellingworth discusses a new-look Ineos Grenadiers, Mikel Landa’s yellow jersey quest and Mark Cavendish’s hopes of winning again at the Tour de France

Primoz Roglic of Slovenia and Team Jumbo-Visma

Image credit: Getty Images

Bahrain McLaren general manager Rod Ellingworth has noticed a shift in authority from Ineos Grenadiers to Team Jumbo-Visma in the peloton at the Tour de France.

Jumbo-Visma have regularly controlled the pace on the front, highlighted on Stage 4 as they propelled Primoz Roglic to victory on the first summit finish, and led the neutralisation on the opening stage as riders struggled in treacherous conditions.

Cycling

Cavendish set to return from illness at Tour of Turkey as Tour de France preparation continues

Yesterday at 08:42

It is a strategy that has helped Ineos, formerly Team Sky, win seven of the last eight Tours - a spree that Ellingworth was heavily involved in as the team's performance manager.

“What I’m noticing is people aren’t saying ‘look at how Ineos are riding’, they’re actually saying ‘look at how Visma are riding’,” Ellingworth, who joined Bahrain McLaren at the end of last year, told Orla Chennaoui on The Breakaway.

‘It’s not look at Ineos, it’s look at Jumbo-Visma’

He added: “Ineos perhaps don’t have the years of experience in the Tour they would have if they had [Chris] Froome or Geraint [Thomas].

“But the one thing you can’t replace is the condition of riders and if you put the wrong people in with the wrong condition, then there’s only one result: you’re going to lose.”

Froome and Thomas were overlooked for the Tour as Ineos paired defending champion Egan Bernal with 2019 Giro winner Richard Carapaz at the fore of their eight-man squad. The duo sit 17 and 45 seconds off leader Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck–Quick-Step) respectively.

Despite Ineos’ reluctance to control the early tempo, Ellingworth still expects them to be the team to beat.

“You would be crazy to underestimate the strength they have,” he said.

“Egan’s a young guy, but he’s got a mature head on his shoulders. He’ll be in the mix.”

However, Ellingworth was also keen to talk up Bahrain McLaren’s own yellow jersey hope: Mikel Landa.

Landa, who finished fourth at the Tour behind former Team Sky teammate Froome in 2017, is 17 seconds adrift of Alaphilippe ahead of Stage 5's 183km run from Gap to Privas.

“Mikel is one of the best climbers in the world. He’s shown that year in, year out,” said Ellingworth.

“He always comes good at the end of a tour. This race will be played out in the final week, I’m sure.

“I think we’ve got a great race ahead of us and we’re in the mix. We’ve come here with Mikel to win this race, we’re not trying to get away from that.”

'Bahrain McLaren can win a Tour de France within three years'

CAN CAVENDISH WIN IN FRANCE AGAIN?

One notable omission from the Bahrain McLaren roster was Mark Cavendish.

The 35-year-old admitted prior to the Tour that he was not in the best shape and was instead targeting other races in the condensed 2020 season.

“Mark has had a really challenging time and joining our team [put] a lot of expectation on him. Even though we weren’t putting massive pressure on him,” said Ellingworth.

“Will he ride the Tour de France again, will he win a stage at the Tour again? Time will tell. The guy needs some time to get back into decent condition.

“[If] you spend two years on and off, you can’t just come back at the level you were at before. You’ve got to come back even better. Without a doubt, the journey is going to be tough for him, but who knows?”

Cavendish has won 30 stages at the Tour de France – a figure only beaten by Belgian legend Eddy Merckx (34) – but he has not raced in a Grand Tour since 2018.