Servais Knaven dares to take on Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic in the Tour de France with his leader Geraint Thomas.
“You should not underestimate Geraint Thomas. When it is at its best, it’s not inferior to Pogacar and Roglic”, Knaven said in an interview with RIDE Magazine.
“Thomas is super motivated. You could already see that in the Tour de Romandie, which he won in an impressive way. ‘G’ realizes very well that it is one of his last chances to compete for the overall victory. If he wins this year, at 35, he would be the oldest post-war Tour winner. I am not afraid to go head-to-head with both Slovenians.”
“Of course it is to our advantage if Pogacar is isolated. Overall, I think we do indeed have the best team with Richie Porte, Richard Carapaz and Tao Geoghegan Hart. If eight men remain in a mountain stage, there is a good chance that we will still be represented with three or four riders,” he predicts.
However, the Tour course is not very generous for attackers.
“There aren’t that many options. It really comes down to figuring out a few days and then making a very good plan of action,” says Knaven.
“We have to try to keep three or four riders in the top ten for as long as possible. The longer we can play various cards, the better it is. Although we also have to take into account the final time trial. There some of our leaders will lose time on those men. With Thomas, we always have someone with a strong time trial.”
