The team had a relatively quiet campaign in this year’s race, but Team Sky Principal Dave Brailsford plans to do things differently in 2011 and wants his riders to aim for early yellow in the race.
The nature of the parcours is such that he believes if the team gets things right in the first two days, that it could put a rider at the head of the general classification. What’s more, the subsequent stages make is possible for whomever takes yellow to defend it until the end of the first week.
“That first stage definitely looks interesting, and if it comes down to a bunch sprint then there will be a lot of guys who could theoretically take the yellow jersey if their team wins the time trial on stage two,” he said.
“We consider ourselves to be competitive in that particular discipline so it will be definitely be an early focus for us. Teams like HTC-Columbia and Garmin will no doubt be thinking the same thing though, so they should be an exciting few days to watch.
"With those stages out of the way, you could argue that if a team is on top of their game they could potentially defend the jersey right the way through to Super-Besse Sancy on stage nine. Some of the stages in between have tough finishes, though, so it's going to be a very difficult race to control.”
Part of the difficulty in getting a grip on the bunch will be due to new regulations governing the intermediate sprints. Instead of three gallops appearing on the route prior to the final sprint, there will be just one. Fifteen riders will get points, and the winner’s total of 20 could play a big part on the outcome of the final Maillot Vert classification.
Directeur sportif Sean Yates expects those opening stages to be very active, and also difficult for any one team to determine what happens. “The wind could play a factor on any one of those days. The stage that finishes at the top of the Mûr-de-Bretagne [stage five] could significantly shake up the standings.
“The points classification is going to be equally open because the race organisers have changed the system to put more emphasis on the intermediate sprints. That could be good for us and hopefully we will be competitive on both fronts early on.”
Team Sky riders such as Edvald Boasson Hagen could be ideally suited to chasing either jersey in the early part of the race. The young Norwegian is a strong sprinter and can also ride well in breakaways, thus handing him an advantage over many other riders. His preparations for this year’s Tour were compromised by a persistent Achilles tendon injury, but if he avoids any such issues in 2011, he could shine.
Yates, like Brailsford, is determined to make headlines next July and said that the team won’t just be focussing on one rider. “A team of our stature will definitely be aiming for some success, whether it's a stage win, a jersey or whatever, and it's not going to be solely about Bradley in 2011,” he explained.
“Obviously the team hasn't been named yet, but looking back at this year you can see there's guys in the squad like Edvald Boasson Hagen and Geraint Thomas who are prepared to give it a go. We'd like to see more riders like them doing that again in the future.
“We were unlucky not to get anything from a breakaway in the 2010 Tour because we featured in them quite heavily, and we'll be looking to contribute in that respect again as well as competing elsewhere.”
Thomas went close to the yellow jersey early on, and briefly held the white jersey of best young rider.
Brailsford said that the team’s sport scientists will study the route and come up with the best possible preparation for it. He added that altitude training may well be an important part of the riders’ build-up for the Tour.
If Team Sky does have a successful race, it is virtually guaranteed to attract huge publicity back home. There is already a large fan base, and the team’s media connections mean that its achievements would be heavily reported on television.