A major problem facing teams is the selection of players, Mitchelton-Scott’s sporting director Matt White, saying that some sponsors can persuade teams to focus their training on the Tour de France. Assuming that sporting events can take place – and it is at this distant stage – and that travel and social distancing restrictions are relaxed enough for the race to resume, teams will have logistical and selection dilemmas on a scale that they have never seen before.
White said Cyclingnews Tuesday that the “hectic” calendar poses a certain number of questions, but if the race starts again, then it envisages that the great teams solidify their alignments of the Tour de France before filling the gaps in the other races. The Tour had a place from August 29 to September 20, and White believes that the main sponsors of the teams will expect the teams to load their lines of eight riders with their best possible team in order to try to recover a part of exposure and results. lost from the start of the year.“It will certainly be an eventful three month period, and it is even without the smallest races being added,” said White. Cyclingnews Tuesday.
“I anticipate that all teams will be forced to send their best GC team to the Tour. Ineos can afford to have likes of Richard Carapaz focus on the Giro d’Italia and still run with Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal and Chris Froome at No other team has the depth to do it.
“That means there will be a few riders who had the Giro as their target for May and who could now go on to the Tour. This could mean that the Giro becomes an easier option for GoC results. I think this year, more than any other, some sponsors are going to want to dictate who goes to the Tour for certain teams. They won’t want to wait for the Giro. It will be a difficult planning process for all teams and how they will prioritize the -TDF races. It could mean that you have a very competitive Vuelta a España because some guys will have had the chance to recover after the Tour. “
White agreed that the final call on which the races take place will not be taken by the UCI or the race organizers, but by the governments. It is revealing that the German WorldTour races were not included in the new UCI calendar, and that the German government had already excluded the major sporting events which took place during the period when these races were scheduled.
There are still several unanswered questions about small events – those below the WorldTour level – and how the UCI will fit them into an already crowded plan that includes the overlapping Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España .
“We still need to know if they are going ahead and where they are,” said White. “From the top of my head, we are still waiting for the Tour of Burgos, the Czech Tour, Croatia and the Tour of Denmark. There are also all Italian and Franco / Belgian day races in October. Are they It is hectic, and there is a period when you have three WorldTour races running at the same time with the Canadian races, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour de France. You also have the Tour of Britain on at that time, and that means they will get the fourth schedule from the teams that have the resources. Then there is another period where you have the Giro, the Vuelta and the Ardennes with a week.
“It’s nice to have a calendar and a calendar around which we can start planning,” he said. “We will be able to do it or not, but this pandemic is much more important than the world of cycling. Teams that can readjust to a schedule we have never known will thrive, but at the end of the day, we understand that any final decision will be made by health officials and governments. “
