"Let's see if I get him out of there. I always have to be the bad guy. But you have to go train." Xabier Artetxe from Biscay is the head of technicians and performance at Ineos. And "from there" is below a tent that the British team has set up in the parking lot of the Ibis Styles hotel in Sallanches, so that Carlos Rodríguez, the third classified on the Tour, can attend the media. First he answers the questions in Spanish. Now he is done with the answers in English Artetxe had scheduled the departure at 11:00 am and does not want it to be too late on the rest day.
Rodríguez, tall, lanky, thin, has come downstairs dressed all in blue, except for the white, high socks, which lead to his On shoes, very comfortable and blue. Right away he will go upstairs and change. He reappears dressed in shorts and a jersey. “Time trial divers are perfectly tested. You don't have to wear them for training. The jerseys are more comfortable”, concedes Artetxe.
The first thing the man from Granada does when he returns is to install the power meter and GPS on the handlebars of his bicycle, and then he sits on the stairs of the mechanics' truck to discuss the details of the training with Artetxe.
It will be approximately 45 kilometers and he will use them to recognize the route of today's individual time trial, the only one of this edition. “I am going to refresh my memory because I already came to see her after the Dauphiné (in June). It's a pretty tough time trial. I have to do my best because it's clear that it's going to be a very important stage”, he analyzes the 22.4 km, between Passy and Combloux, which includes the famous Côte de Domancy. Of the 2.8 km that the climb has, there is a section of 1.5 in which the slope exceeds 10%. There Hinault cemented the triumph in the 1980 World Cup, the toughest.
But that battle is far away for Rodríguez, born on February 2, 2001, who despite being a rookie, is locked in the fight to be on the podium on the Champs-Élysées next Sunday.
"Already thinking about going to the cafeteria with Jonas Vingegaard on the rest day," Tadej Pogacar joked on the networks as the title of a photograph of the moment when the Dane, in yellow, and he arrive together, in parallel, at the finish line of Saint Gervais Mont-Blanc. If they are separated by 10 seconds, in favor of the Jumbo rider, Carlos Rodríguez has a 19s advantage over the fourth, Adam Yates. And surely the Andalusian would like to have Yates further away, nothing to go for coffee. “You never know who might be a rival. Hindley seemed unreachable and is now fifth. Tomorrow it can happen to me. I am going to continue giving the best version of myself and fight with whoever is next to me”, says Rodríguez.
In his team they fear that the time trial, with a lot of change of pace, will adapt better to the conditions of the Briton. But the boy from Almuñécar, at 22, shows his confidence and does not want to take as a reference the 31 km time trial he took part in at the Critérium del Dauphiné, where he lost 1m03s with Yates (UAE) and 52s with Hindley (Bora). “The time trial is different and I also arrive with a different form. It is one more experience that can help us to see how to regulate forces ”, he highlights. And now, little more, because the Andalusian cyclist also fell two days before that stage, which weighed him down. On his left leg there are still bruises from that day.
Whatever happens today, Rodríguez will not end the fight, especially since there is still a mountain left. “On paper, the Courchevel stage (this Wednesday) may be the one that suits me best. The Col de la Loze is quite a climb, quite long and hard. It could be a key moment of this Tour”, he predicts. He has already shown that he is brave to attack, as he did by going down to Morzine, where he won. “Of course if I have good legs I will attack. I like to be offensive ”, he launches.
Then he gets on the time trial bike, lenticular behind, three-spoke wheel in front, 58x11 in development, and at 11:20 a.m. he leaves with Castroviejo, Omar Fraile, Kwiatkowski and Pidcock. This Tuesday, at 4:56 p.m., he will go out alone.
