Kwiatkowski warns colleagues after the first poll: “If you can win the round, you can also win this stage.”

If one man can pass judgment on the course of a Tour 1 stage, it’s Michal Kwiatkowski. INEOS Grenadiers Pole fully explored the stage, and reported on it after the team was featured on several media outlets, including in the leader’s shirt.

Kwiatkowski must have been the first driver to set foot on Basque soil this week, as he completed the 182km stage around Bilbao on his own on Tuesday. Why did he choose that? I was curious about the beginning. If you look at the final, it could be a final for the best climbers of the Tour.

He testified two days later. It was a daunting task for the pole. “On those two climbs we’ll see right away how it goes. If you can win the Tour de France, you can also win this stage if you get to the last hills, looking straight at Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard.” I’m curious if Jumbo -Visma and UAE-Team Emirates will be in charge for the day, and if not, what will happen.”

According to Kwiatkowski, the ride is much tougher than it sounds, at least if the ride is going to be fast. “From the start we already have two climbs and if there is a race there it will be one of the toughest days of the Tour de France. It is really up to the favourites for this Tour: Pogacar and Vingegaard.

Kwiatkowski predicts the “very tough” opening stage of the Tour de France

If you look at the paper: Matthew van der Poel and his teammates can also handle that last kilometer towards the finish and then it looks like an open final, but the stage as a whole is really tough. I think we have only a few favorites for this trip, ”the experienced driver repeats.

So what does that mean for the Ineos Grenadiers approach? It’s one of those days where you can make a plan, but it can go either way. We can come up with a group, but also one by one. It depends on many factors, but on the first day of a tour there is always pressure. This is about 3500 elevations, said the guy who started his ninth Tour, so I would expect a very difficult stage.

On behalf of INEOS, eyes are likely to be on Tom Pidcock, but for him – and indeed all the other ratings men – Kwiatkowski has a caveat. Tom is one of the guys that should be able to do that. We know how talented he is, but eyes will be on Pogacar and Vingegaard. Many men already think about the second and third weeks, but here men may be surprised. that it full on Climbs, you’ll be there right away.

Tom Van Der Salem (Twitter: @employee) | Email: [email protected])