The Tour de France has reached Paris and the final report cards are in. For some teams, July was a month of accomplishment. For others, success was rather thinner on the ground. Every prize counts at the Tour, but with 22 teams vying for 21 stages, there is never quite enough to go around. In this two-part feature, Cyclingnews runs the rule over the competing teams.
AG2R La Mondiale
Jerseys: Polka-dot – Romain Bardet
GC: Romain Bardet - 15th
Stage wins: 0
Highlights
Romain Bardet's victory in the mountains classification has to be the sole highlight for the French team, who endured a rough Tour de France. The very fact that Bardet's polka-dots are a highlight showcases how badly it went wrong for Vincent Lavenu's men. Bardet took the jersey from a breakaway in the Alps, having seen his GC bid go up in flames, and was a touch fortuitous that two major climbs were removed from the final two stages due to weather conditions. Nevertheless, it pretty much saved his Tour from total disaster, and there was also the fact that getting into breaks plugged him back into an offensive, uncalculating style of racing. As he said, by the end of the Tour, the smile was back on his face.
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Lowlights
Having finished on the podium in 2016 and 2017, this was to be a key indicator of Bardet's prospects of winning the Tour, after a subdued display 12 months ago. The writing was on the wall on La Planche des Belles Filles on stage 6, but he fell apart completely on the Col du Tourmalet on stage 14, which he described as "an affliction". Bardet's polka-dots saved his Tour but won't cover up the cracks in the long-term, and the chastening experience will signal a crossroads in the Frenchman's career. A Giro d'Italia debut, an idea with which he's toyed in the past, is now surely on the agenda. (PF)
Astana
Jerseys: 0
GC: Alexey Lutsenko -19th
Stage wins: 0
Highlights
Pello Bilbao's second place on the road to Bagnères-de-Bigorre was probably the team's best single result, while several members of Alexandre Vinokourov's rank and file chipped in with breakaway rides once Jakob Fuglsang left the race in bandages. Alexey Lutsenko became stronger as the race went on and came close to a stage win in Valloire before finishing inside the top 20 in Paris.
Arkea-Samsic
Bahrain-Merida
Bora-Hansgrohe
CCC Team
Cofidis
Deceuninck – Quickstep
Dimension Data
EF-Education First
Groupama - FDJ
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/analysing-the-2019-tour-de-france-teams-part-1
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