Richard Carapaz leads Ineos Grenadiers at Tour de Suisse as team finalises Tour de France squad

Richard Carapaz will be leading another formidable Ineos Grenadiers team at the Tour de Suisse.

The Swiss stage race is the final major preparation event before the Tour de France gets underway later this month, with Ineos management fine-tuning their selection for the biggest race of the season. 

While Carapaz will lead the team in the eight-stage WorldTour race in Switzerland, Geraint Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart are preparing for the Tour at the Critérium du Dauphiné. 

Meanwhile, Adam Yates is missing from the pre-Tour preparation races, as it's unclear what the Brit's schedule will look like, although he is expected to race the Vuelta a España later in the year. 

Carapaz, 28, has been fairly quiet this season, last racing at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April where he was disqualified for riding in the ‘supertuck’ position. 

His biggest result of the year was ninth place in Flèche Wallonne. 

The rest of Ineos squad for the Tour de Suisse is another formidable line-up, as Carapaz will have plenty of support in the mountains.

Carapaz, winner of the 2018 Giro d’Italia, will be supported by key mountain domestiques Rohan Dennis, Eddie Dunbar and Pavel Sivakov. 

Dennis proved himself as an invaluable mountain support rider during the Giro d’Italia last year, where he was pivotal to Tao Geoghegan Hart’s overall success in the final week. 

The former world time trial champion has also got back on top in the TTs, winning two individual tests already this year - a promising sign for the two TTs in the 2021 Tour de Suisse. 

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Sivakov will be looking for redemption after he crashed out of this year’s Giro in the first week, which meant he was unable to support team leader Egan Bernal (who eventually won the race overall). 

The rest of the ineos squad for the Tour de Suisse will be made up of Sebastian Henao, Michal Golas, and Luke Rowe who will control the race on the flats.  

Ineos Grenadiers squad for the Tour de Suisse 2021 

Richard Carapaz (Ecu) 
Rohan Dennis (Aus)
Eddie Dunbar (Irl) 
Pavel Sivakov (Rus)
Sebastián Henao (Col) 
Michal Golas (Pol)
Luke Rowe (GBr)