Tour de France 2022: Numbers are nothing if Ineos Grenadiers can’t deliver the killer blow for Geraint Thomas
There is something admirable – immensely satisfying, even – in watching Geraint Thomas ride his own tempo, stick to his numbers, and claw his way back into contention, time after time, in a Tour de France in which he occupies the third step on the podium. But as pleasing as it is to see this wily form of conservatism trump the all-out brazenness of Tadej Pogacar, it’s not going to see the Welshman to a second Tour triumph four years after the first.
Ad/> Just as he said he would – just as he must do – Pogacar rained down the attacks in Tuesday’s Stage 16 into the foothills of the Pyrenees. With a 2’22” gap on Jonas Vingegaard to close, Pogacar needs to do as much as he can to destabilise the Dane, who looks increasingly likely to stop the Slovenian two-time champion from completing his hat-trick in Paris this Sunday.
Tour de France'I was completely lost, it's one of my worst days' — Bardet struggles to explain collapse4 HOURS AGO With three stage wins between them, Pogacar and Vingegaard – white and yellow – have been the stand-out stars of this Tour, alongside the man in green, Wout van Aert. The Belgian fought his way into the day’s 29-man break on Friday – as did riders from Jumbo-Visma’s rival teams UAE Team Emirates (Brandon McNulty) and Ineos Grenadiers (Dani Martinez).
All three played a key role later on when dropping back from the break to help pace their leaders down the descent of the Mur de Peguere and to the finish in Foix – almost six minutes behind Hugo Houle’s emotional solo win for Canada. But couldn’t – shouldn’t – Ineos Grenadiers have done more? Was Martinez even the right man for such a move? The Colombian has been struggling will illness in this Tour and has been far from his best.