Ineos Grenadiers team manager Rod Ellingworth had hoped that one of his young riders could finish in the top five at the 2023 Tour de France. Tom Pidcock endured a difficult weekend in the Alps and dropped to 12th but Carlos Rodriguez won in Morzine and is up to third overall and aiming high for the final week and the road to Paris.
Pidcock has predicted an aggressive last week of the Tour, with the battle for general classification tantalisingly close between Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). But he, Rodriguez and Ineos Grenadiers want to be in the fight alongside.
Rodriguez has a 19-second buffer on Pogacar’s teammate Adam Yates in the general classification with Jai Hindley (Bora-hansgrohe) 1:17 adrift of the Spaniard in fifth.
“We knew coming into the race there were two hot favourites but that podium was open,” Ellingworth suggested on the second rest day.
“We didn’t really know, but we did say we think one of the guys is capable of top five, and who knows what can happen in the Tour now.”
The Tour resumes on Tuesday with a hilly time trial that Ellingworth believes will be decisive, followed by the queen stage on Wednesday that includes the Col de la Loze, which at 2304m is the highest point of the 110th edition of the Tour de France.
Rodriguez had an interrupted lead-up to the Tour, which limited specific preparations for the race against the clock and that appears to be a concern for Ineos Grenadiers.
“Carlos has been restricted because he broke his collarbone in Strade Bianche and it was quite a bad break and took him a bit longer,” Ellingworth said.
“With a collarbone you can’t do the work with a TT bike. Then he got knocked off by a car and damaged his knee and that took longer than he wanted. So, he’s been quite compromised in his preparation.
“If you think about Carlos, he’s had some good time trials, he’s had some not so good time trials,” Ellingworth continued.
“But he’s not thinking about the podium though. He’s like, ‘Yeah okay, it would be nice, but I’m not thinking God, I’m going to chase the podium’ if you like. He’s just sticking to his plan, which is doing the best he can every day.”
Yates improved his position in the general classification, after riding away from Pogacar on Mont Blanc, while Hindley felt the injuries he sustained in a mass crash on stage 14. Rodriguez won on Saturday and so was able to eat into the Australian’s…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…