EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: JONATHAN VAUGHTERS, EF PRO CYCLING GENERAL MANAGER
Eurosport's Orla Chennaoui spoke exclusively to Jonathan Vaughters, EF Pro Cycling general manager, who shared his views on the performance of Team INEOS Grenadiers in the 2020 Tour de France so far.
Jonathan Vaughters, EF Pro Cycling general manager on INEOS Grenadiers:
“INEOS are off their game. They’re not what they have been in the past years. It’s going to be a harder race for them to win. If Bernal wins, which he very much could do because I think he’ll be pretty incredible the third week of the race, it’ll be more of an individual win rather than a crushing team win. They’re struggling a little bit. Jumbo-Visma are obviously doing a lot better and showing their strength early. The risk is they fry themselves in the first ten days and don’t have anything left in the tank.
“It makes it a much more open race. It’s good to have two big players knocking heads. We can sit back and wait for them to beat each other up and take advantage of that moment when they’re a little bit tired of battling each other.”
Jonathan Vaughters, EF Pro Cycling general manager, on his team's strategy
“Danny [Martin] is a little bit banged up, a little bit hurt but not too bad. Originally our game plan before the Dauphiné was to not having Danny ride the GC and allow him to lose some time because he’s really good out of breakaway – we saw that at Paris-Nice in 2019. He can win out of a breakaway on mountain stages really well. After the Dauphiné we thought we’ll give him a shot at GC but we’re back to the original plan now.
“Our plan for Hugh [Carthy] was to win some stages like he did at the Tour de Suisse last year with that incredible 120km solo he did. If we can get him out front on one of these mountain stages, once he’s got the bit between his teeth and he’s out there chomping on his own, he’s pretty hard to get back. He’s not our GC guy but he can come away with the polka dot jersey or a stage win.
Comments taken from Eurosport's The Breakaway
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