Ineos Grenadiers could have ‘worst Tour de France with no general classification leader’ – Adam Blythe

Eurosport expert Adam Blythe is predicting that Ineos Grenadiers could have their “worst Tour de France in terms of general classification hopes.”

Ineos, previously Team Sky, once dominated the peloton at the Tour de France, winning the yellow jersey for five straight years from 2015 to 2019.

But this summer their team doesn’t appear to have a strong favourite to battle the GC favourites like Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).

Former champion Egan Bernal is still returning to his top level after a serious injury while 23-year-old Tom Pidcock is only competing in his third Grand Tour.

“For Ineos this could be a very different scenario for them – stage hunting, not a GC leader, not a chance of the yellow jersey in my eyes,” said Blythe.

“They’ve always had a leader, they’ve always had ambitions to get the yellow jersey, but this year I would say the ambition is between top five and top 10, after that I am not too sure.

“You have Tom Pidcock, who might try and stay up there on GC just for the learning process to see what it’s like. But he is a proper bike racer and will want to go stage hunting and getting the glory which I hope he does, I hope he doesn’t get too bogged down with the GC.

“Bernal, I don’t think he will do anything in the GC, I don’t think he’s at that level yet. The other guys in the team…I think top 10 would be great.”

It’s not clear yet who will be the GC leader for Ineos.

They have experience in the team with Jonathan Castroviejo and Michal Kwiatkowski, while Dani Martinez is riding in his fourth Grand Tour and 22-year-old Carlos Rodriguez finished seventh at the Vuelta a Espana last year.

“From my point of view none of them are serious contenders for podium, maybe not even top five,” said Eurosport expert Jens Voigt.

“They might be able to finish top 10, but none of them has the shape right now to be a serious threat.

“That also needs to be a reminder to all the other teams that they cannot rely on Ineos to ride tempo. It will all be up to Jumbo-Visma and UAE to control the race. I see Ineos as a pure team for stage hunting.”

The Astana Qazaqstan sprinter will seek a 35th stage victory to move ahead of Merckx – and Blythe is backing him to do it.

“Mark Cavendish will be full of motivation, it’s his last Tour, his final hurrah, a chance to beat the record.

“I believe he can do it but it’s going to be tough and I think the pressure will be a lot greater than it was at the Giro.

“Mark at the Giro he was seeing how things were going and getting back into form, but if we look at Mark now after that Giro victory he will be even hungrier.

“I think he will get that stage win and the pressure on his shoulders will be the pressure he is putting on himself. I have my fingers crossed for him.”

The 2023 Tour de France starts on July 1 in Bilbao.