Sunday night saw Chris Froome ride home along the Champs-Élysées,
arms around his fellow teammates, as the curtain fell on what was a remarkable
100th Tour de France. The race had it all; the failure of a two time
winner, the rise of a Columbian wonder climber, a new Champs-Élysées champion and
the second British Tour de France victor in two years.
Remarkable is an understatement considering Sky have only
been around since the start of the 2010 cycling season. Ask any team principle
and they will tell you that it is extremely tough to start a team from scratch
and to expect to see results in grand tours so soon after. At the Team Sky
launch David Brailsford outlined his main goal; to create the first British
winner of the Tour de France, within five years. What once looked like an ambitious
target now seems rather conservative. Sky have won 2 tours in its first four
years and are the favourites to take next year’s edition.
Froome & Wiggins
But in order to win what would be an historic 3rd
tour de France victory, Sky have got to sort out some differences within their
camp. The first lies with what to do with Bradley Wiggins. Hero a year ago,
Wiggins has fallen down the Sky pecking order in recent months. Brailsford has
insisted that he feels Wiggins and Froome can work together again in next
year’s tour but it seems improbable. Wiggins reached the pinnacle of his career
in 2012 and he is unlikely to be able to have the humility to work for Froome,
the better climber, in a tour. Doubtless Sky will play it down, perhaps as an
injury of some sorts, but it’s hard to believe that a team can go into a tour
with two contrasting personalities who have had fractious moments in the past.
Brailsford disagrees.
“People talk about having team unity and team harmony. In my
experience, I don’t buy that at all. Most of the best teams I’ve been with,
they’re not harmonious environments.”
Brailsford seems to stand by his judgement that as long as
Sky have one goal, Wiggins and Froome can work together.
“What you do need is goal harmony. And there’s a big
difference between the two. You can have the best friends, the closest knit
group, but if they’re not 100 per cent aligned behind the goal, it’s not going
to work.”
It seems puzzling to see how a team without unity could
possibly be 100 per cent aligned behind the same goal. Does that mean that Sky
couldn’t win with both Froome and Wiggins in the same team? No, but it would
surely be controversial with the media analysing every statement the one says
about the other.
I think that the most likely scenario is for Sky and
Brailsford to try to guide Wiggins to target the Classics. Wiggins has shown
his versatility in the past and his grit and determination would surely stand
him steadfast in the harsh one day races. That would mean Wiggins would have to
alter his whole training and peak earlier on in the season, significantly
affecting his riding potential in June/July. In 2012 Wiggins’ whole year was
geared towards the Tour de France; that wouldn’t be an option any longer. Sky
would then have the leeway with Wiggins, especially if he does well in the
classics, to send him to the Giro as a duel leader with Richie Porte or to
draft him in to the Tour team as a pure domestique and time triallist.
Uran
The other area of controversy within Sky is what to do with
Rigoberto Uran. The Columbian is a phenomenal climber but with Froome, Porte,
Wiggins and Henao in the Sky team, Uran may not be given the full support
needed to propel him to a grand tour win. His contract terminates at the end of
the season and his agent Giuseppe Acquadro feels it is time for him to move on.
Speaking to L’Equipe during the Giro he said, “Unlike [Sergio] Henao, who is in
the same situation, Urán won’t be staying with Sky because he wants to ride the
Tour next year as a team leader, and Sky already have Froome, Wiggins and
Porte, so there are too many ambitious riders and not enough space to accommodate
them.”
According to L’Équipe, Urán’s most likely destination is
Omega Pharma-QuickStep. The Belgian team has plenty of top-class riders, but
lacks an outstanding contender for the grand tours.
Porte
Richie Porte failed to finish within the top ten of this
year’s Tour de Franc, predominately due to one bad day on stage 9. The rest of
the tour, Porte showed his class as Froome’s loyal lieutenant and was
consistently strong in the mountains and produced two good time trial
performances. It seems inevitable that Porte will be given the leadership for
next year’s Giro. The Australian will then ride the Tour for Froome again and
continue what is a formidable partnership.
Heneo
The other Columbian in the team, Sergio Heneo is primed to
be Sky’s future GC man. Having already put in strong performances in the past
two Giro d’Italia’s and last year’s Vuelta, Henao may have to wait his chance
before he is given grand tour leader status. Nevertheless, Sky will be keen to
keep hold of him especially after producing strong Classics performances and
finishing 2nd in this year’s La Flèche Wallonne.
Thomas
Thomas was the inspiration in this year’s tour victory after
riding the majority of the race with a broken pelvis. Next year should see the
Welshman excel in the Spring Classics. Despite a disappointing 2013 Classics,
Sky will be eager to learn from their mistakes and Geraint Thomas will be at
the helm of the 2014 charge on the one area of the calendar they have yet to
stamp their mark on.
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