"Why not dream? Carlos has won a stage from the GC group before" - INEOS backing Rodriguez to challenge for Yellow at 2025 Tour de France

In the opinion of many in the cycling world, the fight for the Maillot Jaune at the 2025 Tour de France is something of a two-horse race between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, with Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic the most likely outsiders. That's not to say the rest of the GC hopefuls are entering the Grand Tour without ambition however. In particular, INEOS Grenadiers' Carlos Rodriguez is being positioned as a threat.

“I mean, anything's possible, right?” says INEOS Grenadiers sports director Zak Dempster in pre-stage 1 comments collected by Domestique. “Like, he’s prepared as best he can, and he’s here. I think obviously you've got Remco and Jonas and Tadej, amongst others, but you've seen Carlos and the stage he won a few years ago."

“Last year, he was dealing with COVID for the latter part of the race, so it made it a real challenge, and he was a bit of a shell by the time we got to Nice. But he’s done everything he can to be ready," continues Dempster with optimism. "So why not dream?”

Unlike inn previous years, where INEOS would go to the Tour with a standout favourite for the overall victory, things this year are different, with Rodriguez more of an outsider, and long-time GC threat Geraint Thomas hunting a stage win in his final Grand Tour. “He’s a mature guy when you talk to him, but at the same time, he hasn't been around for that long, so it’s just a constant process of trying to improve things and do all the right things based on the demands of what racing is now,” Dempster says of Rodriguez. “For sure, he's not just resting on his laurels and hoping to maintain where he's at, he's doing even more.”

“Carlos has won a stage from the GC group before, so we definitely believe that, from the right situation, he can do that with a tactical movement on the right time,” Dempster adds. “We've also got some young exciting riders, and I think they form a really formidable team with Filippo Ganna, Tobias Foss and even Thymen Arensman from the right break. I think for us it's really going to be a matter of building momentum with stage results.”