Froome and Thomas excluded from Tour de France team
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.
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.
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.
“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.”
Ineos Grenadiers team for Tour de France
Andrey Amador
Egan Bernal
Richard Carapaz
Jonathan Castroviejo
Michal Kwiatkowski
Luke Rowe
Pavel Sivakov
Dylan van Baarle
