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Legendary French cycling manager Cyrille Guimard heaped extra fuel on the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Team Sky leadership fire in an extensive interview in French sports newspaper L'Equipe on Sunday by saying that Sky's two leaders – 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Geraint Thomas and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Chris Froome, who sit in first and second place overall, respectivel🧔y, ahead of stage 16 – both think that they can win this year's Tour de France, a🐠nd that there's no 'understanding' between them.

"I imagine that [Team Sky principal] Dave Brailsford had Thomas ready to replace Froome when his s♉albutamol case came to light across th🎉e winter, not �𒁏�knowing whether Froome would be suspended," said Guimard.

"So when Thomas 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:won the Crit&eac𒅌ute;riu♈m du Dauphiné in such a convincing manner, beating many of his rivals for the Tour, he couldn't then very well arrive at the start of the race in Noirmoutier and say, 'I'll give🅘 my wheel to Chris if he needs one on the cobbles.'

"From what we saw 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:at La Rosière and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:at Alpe d'Huez" &𒀰ndash; both stages won by Thomas – "there's no understanding between the tw✤o of them, and there won't be. When you've won four Tours de France like Froome has, you don't just give up on the opportunity to win a fifth."

As a directeur sportif, Guimard won no fewer than seven Tour de France titles, guiding three riders to victory: Lucien Van Impe in 197🌃6, Bernard Hinault to four of his five Tour victories, in 1978, 1979, 1981 and 1982, and Laurent Fignon to both of his Tour wins in 1983 and 1984.

Guimard pointed to the fact that, after winning on Alpe d'Huez this year, Thomas said th🐎at at the 2015 Tour – when he'd been fourth overall going into the last three stages before blowing up and fading to 15th place in Paris – he hadn't been targeting the overall classification, but that things were different this year.

"It was as if to say, 'This ye🅷ar, it's my turn,'" said 71-year-old Guimard, who was no slouch as a professional rider himself, winning seven Tour de France stages in ဣthe early 1970s.

Heading into the Pyrenees on Tuesday 🏅should prove to be crunch time when it comes to answering the question of who the stronger rider is out of Thomas and Froome, and Guimard was veritably licking his lips at the prospect of w꧋hat was to come.

"As always at the Tour, the road will decide," said Guimard. "The we♓ather is very changeable in the Pyrenees, and we could see temperatures rise to 35ºC. There could also be thunderstorms, gravel on the road...

"And Froome is a better descender than Thomas," he added, somewhat erroneously, aܫs both riders are extremely proficient.

Guimard also pointed to Froome's show of strength as the better climber at the 2012 Tour, when he had to work 🍨for then Team Sky leader, and eventual race winner, Bradley Wiggins.

"Just like Hinault, Froome won't want to lose. He won't hand victory to his teammate Thomas in the same way that he had toಌ cede the win to Wiggins si🦩x years ago."