Tour de France 2020: Criticism of Dave Brailsford 'moronic', says EF boss Jonathan Vaughters

ByEurosport

Updated 16/09/2020 at 10:20 GMT

EF Pro Cycling boss Jonathan Vaughters has slammed the criticism aimed at Ineos Grenadiers team principal Dave Brailsford for his rider selections at this year's Tour de France. Egan Bernal abandoned the race on Wednesday morning as Ineos' problems mount.

EF Pro Cycling boss Jonathan Vaughters has slammed the criticism aimed at Ineos boss Dave Brailsford for his rider selections at this year's Tour de France .

Defending champion Egan Bernal withdrew from the Tour on Wednesday morning and Brailsford said the decision was made "with Egan’s best interests at heart.".

The 2020 Tour de France has been a struggle for Ineos compared to previous editions where they had won seven of the past eight yellow jerseys with Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Bernal all playing major parts.

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But the omissions of Froome and Thomas has put Brailsford under pressure. Eurosport journalist Orla Chennaoui reports that rumours of dissatisfaction within the team have been backed up by interesting remarks made by Brailsford during Monday’s rest day press conferences.

With the criticism of Brailsford piling up, Vaughters has jumped to the defence of his fellow team principal.

The 47-year-old wrote on Twitter: "Dave Brailsford and myself aren’t the best of friends, but good grief, the number of outright moronic comments regarding his #tdf rider selection is astounding.

INEOS picked the best team they could based on the data available. End of.

Brailsford admitted earlier this week something went wrong in their approach to this year's Tour.

"Obviously we are out of the race for the overall,” Brailsford said.

"It’s not what we were hoping for, but on the other hand, when we had the rest day and took stock of the situation, there’s nobody looking in the mirror more than us. But it’s a bit of a test of pride, passion, and character now."

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