Making the cut
This month Israel Start-up Nation’s sports director Cherie Pridham explains how they select riders for the Tour de France
very June it suddenly becomes the major question: who goes? Naturally most teams have a broad idea before the season even starts, but form, fitness and now Covid all make it impossible to predict too far in advance who goes to the Tour. At Israel Start-up Nation our team was always going to be decided after the Tour de Suisse [June 13th], then it was a question of seeking the opinions of the team owners and sponsors, with the management and sporting directors making the final decision.
We decided on Michael Woods as team leader, and he’ll hunt for stages along with looking to place well in GC. Then it’s a case of making sure he has good support, so for the mountains we needed a couple of good climbers, then also a couple of strong workhorse-type riders to do the hard yards on the front when required, riders who can sprint on the flatter days and battle like a puncheur on those undulating stages with uphill finishes.
Naturally, experience of three-week stage racing is a huge bonus too, so someone who can guide the team on the road where quick decisions need to be made is very useful.
Outside the public gaze on who is going is the other question: who isn’t? All riders will have sat down with their sports directors at the beginning of the year to set out their wish list of races and their views will be taken into consideration, as will their form.
Not every rider can make every race, however, and managing those expectations is a key part of my job, and often one of the most challenging for any sports director.
Whether it’s an experienced professional or a young hopeful, you have to be honest about their nonselection but still give them sufficient motivation to work towards the next big race. So if they haven’t made the Tour, perhaps selection for the Vuelta is something they can target.
Everyone is treated the same irrespective of their palmarès and at ISN, as everyone knows, we have a four-time Tour de France winner in Chris Froome being told that his role will involve riding in support of someone else. That said, Chris is very philosophical and professional, and he knows that it’s too soon after his horrendous crash in 2019 to be competing for the general classification. There will undoubtedly be other years.
Some people have questioned his appointment as road captain for the team, but I don’t think people should get hung up about the title. His role will be to provide support across a broad spectrum. Chris will be able to help on the road – he knows a lot of the climbs, and he’s probably won or led the race up quite a few of them! And he’ll know the best places to attack and the areas to hold position. But he’ll also be key off the bike, an important character to have on the team bus, around the hotel and at team meetings.
Chris brings that crucial Grand Tour experience, and luckily our team has plenty, not just Chris but André Greipel will be there too. It all helps with the younger generation – this year we’ll have Omer Goldstein making his Tour de France debut at the age of 24. So with the old hands guiding the new generation, it should prove to be another exciting edition of the biggest bike race in the world.
Not every rider can make every race, and managing those expectations is a key part of my job, and often one of the most challenging