Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas miss out on Tour de France, Egan Bernal to lead Ineos

Updated 19/08/2020 at 13:19 GMT

Ineos Grenadiers have announced their team for the 2020 Tour de France, and it surprisingly does not feature Chris Froome or Geraint Thomas, with Egan Bernal to lead the team.

Team Ineos - Froome, Thomas, Bernal

Image credit: Getty Images

The Grenadiers outlined their shock plans for the rest of the season on Wednesday morning and confirmed the leaders for each of the Grand Tours with the star trio spread across the three feature races.

While the 23-year-old Bernal will seek to defend his Tour title, which starts on Saturday 29th August in Nice, Thomas will instead focus on attempting to win the Giro d'Italia.

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As for Froome, who will be leaving the team to join Israel Start-Up Nation at the end of the season, he will now switch his attention to La Vuelta rather than targeting a fifth Tour triumph.

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Sir Dave Brailsford said: "I am very proud that we have several current, and I am sure future, Grand Tour champions in the team. Selecting the right leader in the right race with the right support team is critical and has meant we have had to analyse all the latest information to make sure we are in the best position possible to optimise our performances in the coming months.

Egan will once again target the yellow jersey in France and we are very excited to give last year’s Giro winner, Richard Carapaz, his debut in this year’s Tour also. Geraint will target the Giro and take on the opportunity to double up his Tour de France win with another Grand Tour title, with the aim of being the first Welshman to win it.

"In turn, Chris Froome will target the Vuelta. Chris is a legend of our sport, a true champion who has demonstrated incredible grit and determination to come back from his crash last year. We want to support him to compete for another Grand Tour title and the Vuelta gives him that little bit more time to continue his progress to the top level.

"We have been analysing closely how we can win the Tour de France this year and we have a passionate team united by a common purpose, ready to get the job done."