The Ineos Grenadiers mountain train was again in full effect at the Tour of the Alps, protecting Tao Geoghegan Hart, chasing the breakaway of the day and blunting attacks on the final climb so that the British rider could win stage 2 in Rutten and extend his overall lead.
The sight of five riders lining out and hurting the peloton on the climbs reminded many of when Team Sky rolled out their mountain train to protect Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome as they dominated the Tour de France. Ineos Grenadiers are now dominating the Tour of the Alps.
Geoghegan Hart is now two from two and leads Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroen) by 18 seconds, with Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) third at 22 seconds. Pavel Sivakov is fourth overall at 28, giving Ineos Grenadiers a second option for the final mountain stages and the 15klm climb to Bretonico San Valentino on Wednesday.
"We're definitely the strongest team from what I've seen, the boys are riding really well. In the end, I only had to ride the final 70 metres of the stage on the front," Geoghegan Hart said after his second consecutive stage win with pride and genuine praise for his teammates.
"Pavel Sivakov made it very easy for me today with his strength; he kept the race together and it would have been much harder without all his work. Ben Swift and Salvatore Puccio also worked all day, riding smart and strong. We also have a Tour de France champion in Geraint Thomas, two other riders that have been top 10 in Grand Tours and one of the best mountain domestics in the world. It was also great to see Thymen Arensmen looking great after not feeling his best yesterday. He showed his true talent and legs out there."
"If you look at the VAM for yesterday's penultimate climb, it was very high, so we can all take a lot of confidence from that. It's really a pleasure for me to see the level that we all have, which is very, very high. It's good to see them reap the rewards of the commitment of the last month. This group has been together quite a lot this year, we're a good group.
Ineos Grenadiers have seven of their eight-rider Giro d'Italia team at the Tour of the Alps and it shows in the way they are able to dominate the racing. For the Corsa Rosa Filippo Ganna will provide extra power, while Luke Rowe is also on the long list as an alternative.
Of course, Geoghegan Hart and Ineos Grenadiers know that the Giro d'Italia is a very different race to the Tour of the Alps. It has a far stronger field packed with all 18 WorldTour teams, with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and others, fighting for overall victory.
Ineos Grenadiers hope to have Geraint Thomas at his best for the Corsa Rosa, with Geoghegan Hart, Sivakov and perhaps even Arensman all possible overall contenders. They will surely try to use their combined strength to take on their two major rivals.
Lead directeur sportif Matteo Tosatto will perhaps let Soudal-QuickStep and Jumbo-Visma control the racing for much of the three weeks but will surely roll out Ineos mountain train if Thomas or Geoghegan Hart have a chance of victory.
Geoghegan Hart prefers to compare Ineos Grenadiers to a football team that has multiple game plans and formations. He warns against expecting Ineos Grenadiers dominance at the Giro d'Italia but is eying victory in Rome on May 28.
"The Giro is going to be a totally different race, World Tour races have a different style of race but I have a lot of confidence in the level that the guys are showing," Geoghegan Hart explained.
"Every race is different and the context is always different. In 2020 (when Thomas crashed out early and Geoghegan Hart emerged late in the race to win the maglia rosa) you never saw us line up on the front. It's all about adapting your tactics.
"Modern cycling means that every day can be different. We've seen a lot of times this year that races opening up from much further to the finish than you've ever seen in the past.
"Grand Tours are long battles, so the important thing is not to get carried away. We'll keep doing what we've been doing. The results are the verification of our work but we'll stick to our methodology, that's the most important thing.
"Rome wasn't wasn't built in a day but at this year's Giro, all roads lead to Rome. We'll just keep pursuing that goal and see what happens at the end of May."
