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<ul class="summary-list"><li>On Saturday, 176 riders will start the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tour-de-france">Tour de France</a> in Nice with hopes of finishing in Paris on September 20. The race is starting two months later than planned because of the coronavirus.</li><li>The organizer and the 22 teams say they're taking precautions to keep the riders safe from COVID-19, including wearing masks, social distancing, and limiting attendance.</li><li>There are just three American riders on this year's start list, and none are expected to finish high up in the general classification.</li><li>We spoke with the first and only US winner of the Tour, <keyword id="334660" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Greg-LeMond">Greg LeMond</keyword>, about racing during the pandemic, favorites for the yellow jersey, and why he's excited for the future of up-and-coming American riders.</li></ul><p>On Saturday, the 107th <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tour-de-france">Tour de France</a> gets underway in Nice, two months later than originally scheduled because of the coronavirus. The organizer and the 22 teams say they'll be taking a deliberate approach <a href="https://www.letour.fr/en/news/2020/enhanced-health-and-safety-measures/1283594">to protect the 176 riders</a> from COVID-19. This includes limited attendance, masks, social distancing, and lots of hand sanitizer (any rider caught leaving his team's safety "bubble" is to be sent home). And while the riders will not have to wear masks while competing, the race has asked that they wear them everywhere else. Meanwhile, spectators are being told to keep six feet from the athletes, and autographs and selfies with the riders are prohibited. Otherwise, the <a href="https://www.letour.fr/en/">three-week route</a> remains unchanged, and if all goes well, the race will finish in Paris on September 20.</p><p>To talk about this year's race, I spoke on Thursday with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_LeMond">Greg LeMond</a>, the winner of the Tour in 1986, '89, and '90. LeMond, now 59, was the first American to make it big in European <keyword id="6366594" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cycling">cycling</keyword>, having forged a path for US riders for years to come, including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/lance-armstrong">Lance Armstrong</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/floyd-landis">Floyd Landis</a>, both of whom won the Tour in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_at_the_Tour_de_France#1990s:_The_era_of_EPO">"dirty" '90s</a> and 2000s before their titles were <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/where-are-they-now-lance-armstrong-tour-de-france-teammates-2015-6">stripped for doping</a>. LeMond, who's also a two-time world champion, is considered the greatest American cyclist of all time. His '86 Tour victory over five-time winner Bernard Hinault is celebrated in the popular ESPN 30 for 30 "<a href="http://www.espn.com/30for30/film/_/page/slayingthebadger">Slaying the Badger.</a>" He won the closest-ever Tour, claiming the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tour_de_France">'89 edition by eight seconds</a> over two-time champion Laurent Fignon, two years after being <a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&amp;dat=19870421&amp;id=5sUlAAAAIBAJ&amp;sjid=iPwFAAAAIBAJ&amp;pg=5856,988494p;pg=5856,988494">shot in a hunting accident</a>. Today he lives in Tennessee, where he's restarting his bike company, <a href="https://lemond.cc/">LeMond</a>, intending to roll out new models this fall.</p><p>During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we talked about this year's Tour, the sport's dark era, and some of the changes he's seen in his time.</p><div type="image" title="Greg LeMond Tour de France interview 2020" height="1967" width="1333" msid="77807026" hostid="261"></div><p><strong>Daniel McMahon: </strong>Much of this year's <a href="https://www.uci.org/road/calendar">pro-cycling season</a> is being condensed into three months, August through October, with the biggest race, the Tour, starting this weekend, all of it during a pandemic. What do you make of it?</p><p><strong>Greg LeMond: </strong>Well, when you look at what's happened with the pandemic, early on, Europe was really good at controlling the spread. But it's been on and off since. They just canceled the world championships, mainly because Switzerland is not allowing any groups over a hundred people. But you know, if you take the right precautions and you're outside, even with Formula One and a lot of these <keyword id="6356028" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sports">sports</keyword>, they don't have to have the spectators on the side of the road or in the stadium.</p><p>If the riders are protected, I think it's great. You've got team sponsors and riders training throughout the whole year, so at least they're not missing the whole year. I actually think it's kind of exciting because usually, you have months to see the condition of riders, to see where they're at. There's a lot of pressure. The riders who were able to train outside definitely have an advantage, although you could do a pretty good job inside. This is going to be a good Tour. It's going to be very competitive.</p><div type="image" title="Egan Bernal Tour de France favorite 2020" height="1333" width="2000" msid="77807029" hostid="261"></div><p><strong>McMahon:</strong> <a href="https://www.letour.fr/en/overall-route">This year's route</a> looks deceptively challenging, with so much climbing throughout.</p><p><strong>LeMond: </strong>The sport is favoring thinner and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chris-froome-lost-weight-started-winning-tour-de-france-2017-7">thinner riders</a>. People sometimes basically look like they're anorexic. It's competitive, but they've got to even it out. They want it really tight, but they're making it tight for climbers. They've got to have longer, 50-, 70-kilometer <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-tour-de-france-time-trial-2017-7">time trials</a>. You've got to have a guy like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Dumoulin">Tom Dumoulin</a> have a chance, riders more all around. At least switch it up. For quite a few years it's been really geared toward climbers.</p><p><strong>McMahon: </strong>Who do you see as the favorites?</p><p><strong>LeMond: </strong>With <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/chris-froome">Chris Froome</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraint_Thomas">Geraint Thomas</a> out, you've now got all these young riders with <keyword id="45920" type="SPORT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tour-De-France">Tour de France</keyword> potential. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/egan-bernal">Egan Bernal</a> has already won it. But you've also got <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primo%C5%BE_Rogli%C4%8D">Primož Roglič</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thibaut_Pinot">Thibaut Pinot</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Alaphilippe">Julian Alaphilippe</a>. Roglič is injured, but I think it's going to be a really tight, exciting race.</p><p>You know, nowadays there are some bright stars, good all-rounders. What I love about right now is you've got these younger riders, like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remco_Evenepoel">Remco Evenepoel</a>. There are so many young, 22-, 23-year-old riders. It's a changing of the guard. And what I like is it's no longer riders all of a sudden getting good at 28. It's where you got talent at 18, 19, and you got talent at 25 and 30. It's really a good sign for cycling.</p><div type="image" title="Tour de France 2020 favorites" height="1285" width="2000" msid="77807033" hostid="261"></div><p><strong>McMahon: </strong>Then there's the American <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepp_Kuss">Sepp Kuss</a>, 25, who recently won a stage of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crit%C3%A9rium_du_Dauphin%C3%A9">Dauphine</a> and is about to start his first Tour. What do you think of the US riders right now?</p><p><strong>LeMond: </strong>You've got <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinn_Simmons">Quinn Simmons</a> and <a href="https://www.magnussheffield.com/">Magnus Sheffield</a> — these guys are real talent. Sheffield is probably the most talented rider we've <em>ever</em> produced, maybe even better than me. I've been looking at his wattage, and he's 18. After two years of racing, he's third in the <a href="https://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/magnus-sheffield">junior world championships</a>. I don't know about winning Tours, but stages maybe, and being competitive in big tours.</p><p><strong>McMahon: </strong>You retired from racing in '94. What's really different to you now?</p><p><strong>LeMond: </strong>Well, versus from the '90s and the perspective of the 21st century — actually starting about 2013, 2015 — there's a generation of riders who are not from that past. And the sport's got a lot more to lose on scandals. There's the <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/athlete-biological-passport">biological passport</a>. And I've looked at historical power output of riders. At the top end, there's still stuff where I go, "I just hope everything's on the up-and-up." But if you look at some of the riders going up the climbs, they're very thin, so I think that's a really good sign.</p><p>I think there was a real issue with the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bike-investigated-technological-fraud-cycling-world-championships-cyclocross-2016-1">motor doping</a> — a real issue. And I believe it is real, and it's been in the past. It's made dramatic changes, but I think that I don't see that anymore. But I guess what I look at right now is the French riders really have another standard of testing. When I see like a guy like <a href="https://www.fredericgrappe.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/pinot-ppr.pdf">Thibaut Pinot, who publishes all his data</a> — everything — and he's literally close to winning the Tour, that's a really good sign.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bardet-calls-for-ban-on-race-radios/">radios</a> have changed the sport. I wish they'd go away, because I think it's part of the cause of a lot of the crashes. I mean, you're literally doing two or three things at a time. I also think the riders are under a lot of pressure now to perform all the time, which is quite difficult. A lot of these guys do two grand tours, so it's a very difficult sport. I've heard from the inside that it's gotten to be almost too — I don't want to say "too serious" — but it's, you know, there's not a lot of <em>fun</em> in the peloton. You've got guys like <a href="https://www.petersagan.com/">Peter Sagan</a>, sure. But I think there's an error there. Things changed. There is the younger group of riders, who are a lot more open.</p><div type="image" title="Greg LeMond cycling innovator Tour de France" height="1467" width="2200" msid="77807040" hostid="261"></div><p><strong>McMahon: </strong>So what do you make of the sport today?</p><p><strong>LeMond: </strong>I think we're as good as we've been since the '80s right now, and only because I look at the talent that's coming out. I mean, if you're 19 years old and you're on a drug program right now, you'd have to have some pretty evil people behind you. But when you see these young riders now, it goes back to the historical norm. It's weird, but I think for a lot of people in cycling, especially in Europe, the '80s were kind of recognized as maybe the last — what I call — "somewhat clean" era. You know, nothing was ever perfect. But part of it was, like, with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_at_the_Tour_de_France#1990s:_The_era_of_EPO">racing in the '90s</a> and all the way to the Sky team, it became less personal, less interaction with the public.</p><p>And I have to say, with helmets and glasses — <a href="https://pelotonmagazine.com/gear/lemond-the-innovator/">even though I brought them into the sport</a> — haven't helped in that way. When you look back in the '70s and '80s, you see people's expressions. People want to see that — they want to see <em>suffering.</em> And that's why, honestly, the last three years, and last year's Tour, were so exciting, because you're seeing people wiped out. I mean, there were periods in racing, people got done with a stage, they weren't even breathing. It was, like, "Oh, I just did a training ride." That's not natural.</p><p><strong>McMahon: </strong>You were the first American to win the Tour. Years later, the US had three Tour winners. Then there were two. Now there's one again, you. How do you look at your place in cycling history?</p><p><strong>LeMond: </strong>I'm glad that I won the Tour de France. I would say that it wasn't my goal to be the only Tour de France winner, because it actually would help the sport if we had more US Tour de France winners. And believe it or not, I'm not the jealous type, at all. I have zero jealousy. That was a nice sound bite that people wanted to use. But I think what's happened is the correct thing. People who cheat, and really cheat, to win races should not be winners. I mean, they should have them <a href="https://www.usada.org/sanction/lance-armstrong-receives-lifetime-ban-and-disqualification-of-competitive-results-for-doping-violations-stemming-from-his-involvement-in-the-united-states-postal-service-pro-cycling-team-doping-conspi/">stripped away</a>, and that's not just the American riders, but that's any rider. And so it is the way it is. I didn't have any part in that. If they didn't lose their Tour de France titles, what would change? I still won three Tours.</p><div type="image" title="Greg LeMond interview Tour de France 2020" height="1333" width="2000" msid="77807045" hostid="261"></div><p>I'm just grateful that I had my time at that period in cycling, and I'm grateful because it wasn't like the '90s. I didn't have to make certain choices. And so in a way, when I look back at my career, I got really lucky, because in the '90s, you're 19 years old, 20 years old, you love cycling, and they slowly seduce you. I'm glad I never had to make that choice. And that's always been my goal, to get cycling to where people don't have to make that choice, they're not forced to make that choice. They're not told "You can't race as a pro cyclist unless you do this." Nobody should have to face that. And that's been, since the '80s, my stance.</p><p>I was fortunate I won two races that were very exciting, against Hinault and then '89. Everybody remembers a close race or a comeback. I'm fortunate I was able to race again, because I when I got shot, two years into it I was ready to quit, and I'm glad I didn't give up. I'm glad I had the career I had. I'm just grateful for that.</p>

His goal was never to be the only American winner of the Tour de France. But that's what happened.

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>There was chaos at the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tour-de-france">Tour de France</a> on Friday's stage 19 after extreme weather forced organizers to suddenly stop the race.</li><li>Confusion reigned on the road as the riders didn't immediately know what was happening or whether they should keep racing.</li><li>Video clips posted on social media appeared to show a landslide blocking the race route just ahead of the riders.</li><li>Egan Bernal of Colombia became the new leader of the Tour after having distanced Julian Alaphilippe of France before the race was neutralized. There will be no stage winner, and Bernal will wear yellow as new race leader on Saturday's stage 20.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>There was chaos at the Tour de France on Friday as organizers suddenly stopped stage 19 because of extreme weather, which appeared to include a flash hail storm, snow blocking the roads, and a landslide all just ahead of the riders.</p><p>The Colombian rider Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) was in the lead when the stage was neutralized and became the new leader of the three-week Tour with just two stages to go to the race's finish in Paris on Sunday.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tour-de-france-bikes-ranked-2019-7">The Tour de France bikes, ranked</a></em></p><p>Before the race was halted, Bernal had distanced himself from the yellow jersey holder, Julian Alaphilippe of France, who rides on the Deceuninck-Quick-Step team.</p><p>Bernal is expected to wear the yellow jersey as the new race leader on Saturday's stage 20.</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p><span>According to the EF Education First team, there would be no stage winner.</span></p><p><span>"Official word from </span><a href="https://twitter.com/LeTour/" target="_blank" rel="noopener user" data-user-name="LeTour"><span>@</span><span>LeTour</span></a><span> organizers: no stage winner, no most aggressive on today's weather-neutralized stage. Egan Bernal (INS) is the new race leader: "For the overall classification, the times at Col d'Iseran will apply."</span></p><p lang="en">The organizers said the finish time for the riders on Friday's stage would be taken atop the Col d'Iseran.</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p><em>This story is developing. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chaos-tour-de-france-race-suddenly-stopped-landslide-roads-2019-7">Check back for updates</a>.</em></p><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>

Chaos reigns at Tour de France as race is suddenly stopped because of extreme weather and landslide

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The heavy favorites to win the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tour-de-france">Tour de France</a>, which starts Saturday, are Egan Bernal of Team Ineos Grenadiers and Primož Roglič of Team Jumbo-Visma.</li><li>No one's really talking about the underdog American team <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/ef-pro-cycling">EF Pro Cycling</a> winning the race, but it could surprise, just as it's done by winning nearly every big race in the sport.</li><li>EF team boss <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/jonathan-vaughters">Jonathan Vaughters</a> spoke with Business Insider from Nice, France, on Thursday about how his guys hope to upset the top favorites — and why you won't be seeing them at the front of the peloton very much.</li></ul><p>Everyone's talking about two riders from two teams winning the <keyword id="45920" type="SPORT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tour-De-France">Tour de France</keyword>, which starts on Saturday: Egan Bernal, of Colombia, who rides for the Ineos Grenadiers team, and Primož Roglič, of Slovenia, who leads the Jumbo-Visma squad.</p><p>No one's really talking about the American <keyword id="9843568" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ef-pro-cycling">EF Pro Cycling</keyword> team winning the three-week race. But the boys in pink could surprise. They tend to do that kind of thing.</p><p>Like in 2017, when no one was talking about Colombian climber Rigoberto Urán. He won a big mountain stage and finished second overall in Paris, after handing Britain's four-time champ Chris Froome his narrowest winning margin of 54 seconds.</p><p>There was the 2012 Giro d'Italia, when no one was talking about the Canadian all-rounder Ryder Hesjedal, who won the race dramatically on the final stage by 16 seconds.</p><p>Just two weeks ago the team upset the favorites again, snagging the weeklong Tour tuneup Critérium du Dauphine, thanks to the tenacious up-and-coming Colombian climber <keyword id="9843567" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="dani-martnez">Dani Martínez</keyword>.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greg-lemond-first-only-american-tour-de-france-winner-pandemic-2020-8">An interview with Greg LeMond, the first and only American winner of the Tour de France</a></em></p><p>In February, the team won the Tour Colombia, too, with Sergio Higuita taking the win on his native soil, beating defending Tour de France champ and compatriot Bernal in the process.</p><p>Beyond stage races, the team has executed its share of stealthy coups in the greatest one-day classics, as recently as last year at the Tour of Flanders, the biggest race in cycling-mad Belgium, with the Italian all-rounder Alberto Bettiol.</p><p>There was also Paris-Roubaix in 2011, with the Belgian Johan Vansummeren slipping away to victory on a flat tire, shocking just about everyone.</p><p>And don't forget Irishman Dan Martin's no-luck-needed triumphs at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2013 and Giro di Lombardia in 2014.</p><p>In nearly all those races, and through its all various iterations, the team now called EF Pro <keyword id="6366594" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cycling">Cycling</keyword> has been the underdog, a moniker EF team boss <keyword id="320360" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Jonathan-Vaughters">Jonathan Vaughters</keyword> seems to relish.</p><div type="image" title="Jonathan Vaughters Tour de France 2020 mask" height="2000" width="2000" msid="77814803" hostid="261"></div><p>For years he's had to work with a budget that's a fraction of that of Ineos and some other top WorldTour teams, à la "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-uran-cannondale-drapac-tour-de-france-stage-9-win-2017-7">Moneyball</a>." Think $20 million versus $50 million. He has scouted talented young riders in Colombia and elsewhere, signing guys who showed promise but were undervalued.</p><p>So you can count EF out of landing a top result, but don't be surprised if they do just that.</p><p>The man in charge told us how that might happen.</p><p>"For us the ideal situation is exactly what happened in the <a href="https://www.efprocycling.com/criterium-du-dauphine-2020/">Dauphine</a>," Vaughters told Business Insider by phone on Thursday night, referring to the team's upset win this month. "We're not going to be able to overpower the race, like Ineos or Jumbo. That's not going to be our place in the race.</p><p>"But I do see ourselves, especially after the Dauphine, as the darkest of dark horses, where we're sort of like the solid dark-horse contender. What we have to do is wait for those two teams to exhaust themselves, like pounding on each other, and then take advantage of that situation. That's where we fit in.</p><p>"I'll say it right now, like, for all you television viewers out there waiting for our team, or who are going to comment on my Twitter feed saying, 'Why aren't your riders pulling on the front to protect your leaders?!' I'm going to give you a big spoiler: 'We're not going to be doing that.'</p><p>"One, because that's not the best tactic for us to win the race. And two, because we don't have as much horsepower. We're not just going to line up next to Ineos and Jumbo and pull on the front. And guess what? That has risks and rewards. Our riders might get caught up in more crashes because they're going to be farther back in the peloton. They might end up in a crash where they lose time or actually crash out of the race. It happens.</p><p>"But if we're talking about how to win the race — how does EF win the Tour de France — trying to match Ineos and Jumbo is a bad plan. We might keep our riders safer, but have no gas left when it's time to go. At the Dauphine, our team was not very visible. We were not right on the front very often like those teams were. We were 40 guys back. And that's where we're going to be in the Tour as well.</p><div type="image" title="Dani Martínez EF Pro Cycling Tour de France 2020" height="1501" width="2000" msid="77814804" hostid="261"></div><p>"That chance we have of winning the race is saving for a few crucial moments and then exploiting the opportunities when they arise, in those few crucial moments. So our objective is David and Goliath, to create a major upset that no one is expecting, and that probably no one even believes can happen.</p><p>"It's almost like I'm waiting for the comment section to say, like, 'Oh my God! This guy's out of his mind!' You know? It's like — perfect! Keep saying that. That's what we want."</p><p>While there's no single leader or "protected rider" on his Tour squad, Vaughters said, the three Colombian climbing "banditos" — Urán, Higuita, and Martínez — will look for opportunities in the mountains.</p><p>That could mean stage wins. Or something bigger — like a step on the podium in Paris.</p><p>The three have a great rapport, Vaughters said, with the veteran Urán a sort of paternal figure to the two up-and-comers. They listen and learn from the 2017 Tour runner-up.</p><p>Supporting these fast climbers in this climbing-heavy Tour are Bettiol, Britain's Hugh Carthy, Belgian Jens Keukeleire, and two Americans: Tour rookie Neilson Powless and nine-time Tour rider Tejay van Garderen.</p><p>With the dynamic trio stalking the big teams in the high mountains, surprises, and upsets, could follow.</p>

'The darkest of dark horses': How America's underdog team hopes to stage a coup at the Tour de France

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>It's been a great <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tour-de-france">Tour de France</a> this year with lots of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chaos-tour-de-france-race-suddenly-stopped-landslide-roads-2019-7">surprises</a> and the youngest-ever winner in Colombian phenom <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/egan-bernal">Egan Bernal</a> of Team Ineos.</p><p>The fans have been pretty great, too, and this might the most passionate of them all - a bespectacled little girl sitting on (presumably) her father's shoulders, cheering the riders roadside on stage 20.</p><p>Elsewhere, back on stage 18, the then race leader <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tour-de-france-alaphilippe-bike-leader-yellow-jersey-specialized-tarmac-2019-7">Julian Alaphilippe</a> of the Deceuninck-Quick Step team reportedly had relatives visiting him postrace, and he gave his leader's yellow-jersey jacket to a shivering young boy.</p><p>On stage 15, three-time world road champ <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/category/peter-sagan">Peter Sagan</a> of the Bora-Hansgrohe team gave a fan his autograph midrace.</p><p>The three-week Tour ends Sunday in Paris on the Champs-Élysées. Bernal is expected to cross the finish line as the youngest-ever winner of the race at age 22.</p><div></div><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-richest-person-net-worth-billions-2018-12">Jeff Bezos is worth over $160 billion - here's how the world's richest man makes and spends his money</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

This little girl is the most passionate Tour de France fan

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Justin Setterfield/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">The US-registered EF Education First cycling team presented ahead of the Tour de France,  in Brussels' Grand Place, July 4, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The top US team at the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tour-de-france">Tour de France</a> hopes to win the race after running a close second in 2017.</li><li>The EF Education First team boss, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/category/jonathan-vaughters">Jonathan Vaughters</a>, shared a variety of thoughts with Business Insider ahead of the three-week race's start in Brussels.</li><li>He talked about picking the right riders for the Tour team and the relationship between relaxation and results.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>BRUSSELS - The top American team here at the Tour de France, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/ef-education-first">EF Education First</a>, is hoping to win the race with its star rider, the Colombian climber Rigoberto Urán, who finished second in 2017, less than a minute behind the four-time winner Chris Froome of Britain.</p><p>The mastermind behind Urán's campaign, then and now, is <a href="https://twitter.com/Vaughters">Jonathan Vaughters</a>, a Coloradan who raced professionally for years before starting the team known today as EF.</p><p>Three weeks makes for a long race, and Vaughters says that when it comes to any plan he's careful not to get ahead of himself.</p><p>"I'm thinking about how to win the race, but you only really do that in the Tour by thinking about the day in front of you," Vaughters told Business Insider in Brussels this week. "It's not some sort of crazy long-term strategy. It's only about the 24 hours in front of you.</p><p>"First thing is, we get through day one and nobody crashes. Then we get through the team time trial. See how that goes. Then we can start talking about the rest of the race. I don't think there's too much to talk about until after the team time trial."</p><p>And as for all the talk that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tour-de-france-favorites-ranked-2019-7">this year's Tour is wide open</a>, Vaughters paused before saying, "Well, we'll just wait and see how open a race it is after Planche des Belles Filles," the first summit finish, on stage six.</p><p>Vaughters' team, in all its iterations, has been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-uran-cannondale-drapac-tour-de-france-stage-9-win-2017-7">pro cycling's "Moneyball"</a> outfit since the beginning. To land contenders like Urán he's had to find undervalued riders with untapped potential, ones he can afford to sign.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/daniel-mcmahon">Daniel McMahon/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of the EF Education First pro cycling team, in Brussels for the start of the Tour de France, July 4, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Traditionally, his yearly budget has been about 15 million euros, a far cry from the estimated 40 to 50 million euros of Team Ineos, formerly known as Sky.</p><p>All the same, EF has brought its strongest team ever to the Tour. The climbers Tejay van Garderen of the US, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-rusty-woods-runner-cyclist-2017-5">Michael Woods of Canada</a>, and Tanel Kangert of Estonia will help Urán in the mountains, and supporting those riders on the flatter stages will be the New Zealander Tom Scully, the Dutchman Sebastian Langeveld, the Australian Simon Clarke, and the Italian Alberto Bettiol.</p><p>It's a quality group of bike racers who could upset <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tour-de-france-favorites-ranked-2019-7">the top favorites, like the defending champ Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal</a>, both of Ineos.</p><p>Whereas Thomas raced, and crashed out of, the tune-up Tour of Switzerland, which Bernal won, Urán instead trained solo at altitude in Colombia.</p><p>Some bosses might've been nervous about their best rider doing that, but Vaughters insists there's trust in Urán to show up at the world's greatest race at his best.</p><p>"We keep Rigo at altitude for a longer period - as tight as we can till the start of the Tour," Vaughters said. "And there's a lot of trust. But we have a lot of training data and we look at his files."</p><p>Vaughters said he liked Urán's chances, that he's looking good.</p><p>"It'll be a competitive race one way or the other," he added. Nonetheless, he said that he still thought Bernal was the strongest rider at this Tour and that Ineos was the favorite.</p><p>"This is definitely the strongest team we've ever brought to the Tour, but I don't think it's bringing expectations, because the pressure is clearly off of our team going into the race," Vaughters said.</p><p>"We aren't the race favorite, so that's actually a really nice position to be in, quite frankly. Internally we have a lot of confidence, but we don't necessarily have to shoulder that."</p><p>The EF team is known for its chill vibe and cast of characters. The riders are intelligent, they share heady books, and they have engaging conversations at dinner together.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/daniel-mcmahon">Daniel McMahon/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Colombian Rigoberto Urán, 32, is quietly hoping to improve on his second place in the 2017 Tour de France, in Brussels on Friday, July 5, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"It definitely gives us an advantage," Vaughters said. "I also think it gives it a recruiting advantage, because other riders see that and they think, 'Man, I wish I were in that atmosphere.'"</p><p>But can chill win big races?</p><p>"It's amazing, but I think the more relaxed you are the better the result," he said.</p><p>"OK, there would come a point where a rider might say, 'Well, I guess I could just put on 30 pounds.' But that hasn't been a problem. If anything, I think most of our riders overtrain rather than undertrain."</p><p>The mood around the team is relaxed, but it's not to be misconstrued as sloppy or unprofessional. Everyone knows their job, from the riders to the staff. There's accountability.</p><p>And then there are some massive EF wins, like this spring when <a href="https://www.efprocycling.com/bettiol-takes-first-pro-win-at-tour-of-flanders/">Bettiol won one of the biggest races of the year, the Tour of Flanders</a>.</p><p>Vaughters broke down how he put together this Tour team.</p><p>"There are some objective-analysis points and then there are a lot of subjective-analysis points," he told Business Insider. "You first pick what the objectives are for the race, then you pick the riders who are most adapted in meeting those objectives, then you pick the riders who are most capable in supporting those riders in achieving those objectives.</p><p>"Then there are the sociological components to it, as well in how you put a group together. So it's not necessarily the top eight riders on a team but the eight riders who will function best in this particular race."</p><p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/602426/one-way-ticket-by-jonathan-vaughters/">Vaughters, who just wrote his first book</a>, a look back at his life and career as a bike racer turned CEO of bike racers, is noticeably more relaxed these days. After being on the brink of losing his team for lack of sponsorship two years ago, he has a new owner and long-term sponsor in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tour-de-france-ef-education-first-edward-hult-interview-2018-7">EF, a privately owned company that calls itself "the world leader in international education."</a></p><p>"It's a lot calmer for me now," Vaughters said while sipping a glass of red - he is an oenophile - a day before his team's biggest event of the year kicked off. "I'm far more focused on sports-science issues and rider recruitment, stuff that's fun for me, as opposed to stuff that is, you know - I'm not sweating the big stuff anymore, let's put it that way."</p><p>The team is getting the details right that it wasn't before, he added, "little things."</p><p>Pushed to give an example, Vaughters said it's "competitive-advantage stuff."</p><p>"We've just put a lot more time into research that we weren't doing," he said. "Most it is aerodynamics-based research. We just didn't have the time or the money to do it before.</p><p>"It's now just about concentrating on the race."</p>      <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/every-total-solar-eclipse-until-2040-video-2017-8">An animated map shows every total solar eclipse around the world until 2040</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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