Tour de France 2022: Opinion: Three-man UAE Team Emirates put Geraint Thomas and Ineos Grenadiers to the sword

It’s not as if Ineos Grenadiers didn’t try. Tom Pidcock was sniffing around the early moves during the fast and frantic start to Stage 17 while Dylan van Baarle, second time lucky, got himself into the breakaway alongside Dani Martinez. Jonathan Castroviejo even tried to bridge over on the first of four climbs, the Col d’Aspin, giving Geraint Thomas three men up the road.

Not bad considering three men – two, really, given Marc Hirschi’s form – were the sum of Tadej Pogacar’s entire workforce.

Were those three riders the right men for Ineos? Probably not. But in light of what happened next, having Pidcock or Adam Yates in the move would have not brought much joy, either. Winner on Alpe d’Huez last week, Pidcock shipped 22 minutes at Peyragudes to plummet out of the top 10 while an ill Yates dropped three places to ninth.

Any hopes of Ineos using their peripheral GC men to put the two riders above Thomas under pressure went up in smoke on the second category Hourquette d’Ancizan. And the author of their undoing? Mikkel Bjerg – one of Pogacar’s remaining three domestiques and a rider not renowned for his climbing.

The notion that Pogacar’s entire support cast equated to the same number of riders Ineos Grenadiers had up the road underlined two things: the precariousness of Pogacar’s push for yellow and the apparent wastefulness of a team boasting its full quota of riders at this key point in the race.

Once Yates and Pidcock started feeling the pinch with over 50km remaining, Martinez was called back from the break to help Thomas on the Col Val de Louron-Azet, where Bjerg continued his unlikely death march. The 23-year-old Dane rode like a man possessed – and did so having already been dropped on the Aspin alongside Swiss teammate Hirschi.

If ever UAE needed a rider to rise from the flames, it was on Wednesday. Entering the Pyrenees, Pogacar’s team was back on an equal footing with Jumbo-Visma following the withdrawals of Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk. But when Rafal Majka was ruled out with a torn muscle so soon after a sick Marc Soler finished outside the time limit at Foix, the pendulum shifted back towards the man in yellow, Jonas Vingegaard.

With eight riders still in the race, it was Ineos Grenadiers whom everyone expected to take this first of two mountaintop finishes in the Pyrenees by the scruff of its neck. But it was Bjerg, instead, who dropped a bomb on the peloton before handing over to Brandon McNulty to finish the job.

“I didn’t really expect that, especially from Bjerg,” Thomas said at the finish after riding to fourth place. “He put in a hell of a shift for the rider he is. He was cracking me actually that he was hurting me so much on a climb. Fair play to them, they really took it on. Chapeau to Pogacar.”

If you could perhaps detect a bit of envy from Thomas in the manner in which Bjerg and McNulty “took it on” then this would have been balanced by Welshman’s acceptance that, even with a numerical advantage, Ineos couldn’t have done much better. They certainly would not have inspired Thomas to set a new climbing record on the Col d’Azet – putting the 1997 effort from Marco Pantani, Richard Virenque and Jan Ullrich in the shade.

Had Yates not been ill, his form already beginning to taper after his recent Covid infection during the Tour de Suisse, then things may have been different. Had Pidcock been on the same kind of day as he was on Alpe d’Huez then, sure, Thomas may have had another ally beyond the returning Martinez, Van Baarle and Castroviejo. But, realistically, nothing more than that.

The only thing you could perhaps fault Ineos for is not using the same tactics as UAE. That’s to say, using the likes of Luke Rowe, Filippo Ganna, Castroviejo and Van Baarle – riders in the same mould as Bjerg – as part of a train inflicting damage on the earlier climbs.

That could well have put a different complexion on things. Given the experience and pedigree of a team that has won three of its last five Grand Tour by employing similar tactics and coming from behind, it was no doubt something considered and overlooked. After all, if the legs aren’t there, then what can you do? We’ve seen it before with Bahrain Victorious, Astana and Movistar with Mikel Landa – paving the way with intent, only for their leader to fire a blank on pulling the trigger.

And for all the calamity surrounding us armchair critics and studio-based experts urging Ineos to do something special, Thomas would have been honest in the team bus about the kind of ammunition he was carrying in his legs.

Would Ganna really bust a gut for an outside chance of helping Thomas consolidate his place on the podium if it meant jeopardising his chances in Saturday’s time trial? No. Especially given the fact that Thomas did just that himself anyway.

Ultimately, Thomas was never going to get anything out of a summit finish when coming up against Pogacar and Vingegaard – two beasts at the peak of their powers both over a decade younger and far hungrier than the 2018 champion.

The fact that Thomas, despite conceding another two minutes to the men in yellow and white, strengthened his grip on the third step of the podium says it all. Thomas and Ineos know they cannot beat the two riders above them in the general classification, whereas Pogacar still thinks he has a chance of reeling in Vingegaard and securing a third successive Tour title. It was that belief that inspired Bjerg and McNulty into doing what they did – and that belief that will see the 23-year-old Slovenian no doubt throw the kitchen sink at Thursday’s stage to Hautacam.

Ineos know they are riding for third place. There’s no shame in that. A final appearance on the podium in Paris for 36-year-old Thomas would be some swansong – especially considering the riders who will be standing to his right on Sunday.

- -

Stream the 2022 Tour de France and the rest of the cycling season live and on demand on discovery+