'There have been some discussions': Evenepoel and Lipowitz involved in Red Bull TTT strategy

Vila did not try to make the Tour de France team time trial sound simple. 

Minutes before the reconnaissance in Barcelona, the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe sports director described a stage where the margin for error will be small and the tactical choices have been discussed for months.

The course is not a standard team time trial. With the time taken on the first rider across the line, the stage becomes a sharper tactical test: fast and flat early, selective on the final climbs, and all about getting the right riders to the finish.

“It is a pretty tricky one because we have just one shot,” Vila told WielerFlits. “It is pretty technical, so we will focus more on the technical part of the race and try to have as much information as we can.”

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have spent a long time working through that information. According to Vila, the preparation for Barcelona did not begin this week, or even this month. The team’s performance staff have been looking at the stage since December.

That work has not come without debate.

“We are a big team behind the riders, from the performance team,” Vila said. “Already from December we have been working on that. There have been some discussions, but now I am confident we have the best strategy for us.”

Evenepoel and Lipowitz have both had a say in that process. Asked how much of a role the two riders played in the discussion about how to ride the final climbs, Vila made clear that the strategy has not simply been imposed from the team car.

“They are the protagonists,” he said. “We are here just to support them and to help them succeed in this Tour de France. We are a team. We listen to everyone, we respect every word and we try to bring every positive thing from everyone and build the strategy with that.”

Vila was less interested in what the other teams might do. In a stage like this, every squad will have its own reading of the course and its own decision to make about when to keep riders together and when to let them go. Vila admitted he was curious, but only up to a point.

“I am curious, but I do not really care too much,” he said. “We cannot control that. What we can control is our race, our strategy, and we are focused on that.”

That same approach shaped his view of the result. Asked whether he could be satisfied if Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe do not win the team time trial, Vila refused to turn the day into a simple question of victory or failure.

“As long as we do our race, do what we want to do and race the way we want, then that is sport,” he said. “Sometimes we win, sometimes not. The result is not something you can demand, but you can always demand the attitude and following the plan.”