Tour de France 2021 - 'They were laughing' - Bradley Wiggins surprised by mentality change at Ineos Grenadiers
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Updated 15/07/2021 at 12:56 GMT
“They were smiling and accepting that some of their riders are not up to the standard and it never used to be like that." Speaking on his latest Eurosport podcast, Sir Bradley Wiggins discusses Ineos Grenadiers and their recent struggles at this year's Tour de France. You can watch the Tour de France live and ad-free on the Eurosport app and Eurosport.co.uk.
Stage 17 Highlights: Pogacar closes on victory after Carapaz bluff
Eurosport expert Bradley Wiggins has questioned the mentality at Ineos Grenadiers after another disappointing stage at this year’s Tour de France.
As well as Richard Carapaz’s bungled bluff that allowed Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) to all but seal this year’s Tour with victory on Stage 17, Tao Geoghegan Hart was also dropped while Geraint Thomas toiled on a difficult day for the team.
Speaking on his latest podcast with Eurosport, Wiggins was perplexed by the attitude shown by his former team.
“It doesn’t live up to what [directeur sportif] Gabriel Rasch was saying about seeing the old Sky train back, does it?” he said.
“Xabier Zandio, the DS in the car with Rasch, was next to me when Tao was getting dropped and they were laughing at him.
They were smiling and accepting that some of their riders are not up to the standard and it never used to be like that.
“Sean Yates used to come out afterwards and want answers as to why you weren’t doing your job. There seems a mentality change.
“I used to race with those guys, they seem like riders still and not authoritarian enough.”
Bernie Eisel, who was also on the pod, agreed that there will likely be changes in the team setup going forwards.
“You expect it,” he said.
“It's not running smooth so what do we do?
“We both know Dave [Brailsford] really well and everything well be looked into really well.”
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