Five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Inaud says Team Ineos has only themselves to blame for their leadership hesitancy. The team, which boasts three Tour winners in Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas, and Chris Froome, faces tough choices for the 2020 Tour, which begins on August 29.

Inaud, of course, is no stranger to intra-team rivalries, having battled teammate Greg LeMond in La Vie Claire in 1985 and 1986.

The Breton, the last French winner of the Tour, said that Ineos' management would have to make a tough choice as to who would lead the team in France.

"It's a problem they have created at Ineos," Inaud told the Dutch newspaper AD (opens in new tab). They used their best riders, Bernal, Thomas, and Froome, to win the Tour every year. And they all want to win.

"It's the team management that decides. They haven't done that before. Only in the mountains will it be decided who will go for the overall. The leader has to be decided there."

Bernal, who won this race last year, said that the road will decide and that in the tough early stages (with the first summit finish on stage 4), the strongest will emerge right from the start of the race.

In late May, L'Equipe reported that team boss Dave Brailsford had promised each rider a Tour leader individually.

Hinault said that if Froome did not have the support of his teammates at the Tour, he should leave the team. The Englishman had held discussions with other teams last month about a possible mid-season move, but no new announcement on the matter has been made since then.

"Bernal has an advantage. He is very young and talented. He is a future rider."

"Froome will have to wait for the Tour and decide what to do. If he doesn't get support from his teammates and doesn't win the Tour this year, he would be better off going to another team where he is sure to be the only leader at the Tour.

"I think Froome still has the power; two years ago he wasn't good enough and Geraint Thomas won. I believe he can do it in 2020."

"I believe he can do it in 2020.

The Tour de France runs from August 29 to September 20, and what kind of race it will be depends on how well the COVID-19 outbreak is contained in the coming months. Inaud said that preventing deaths is more important than getting into the bike race, adding that he does not know if the race will be possible.

"I hope that by then the coronavirus pandemic will really be eradicated. Preventing people from dying is much more important right now than getting into the race."

"I know ASO is doing everything it can to organize the Tour. I don't know if it will work out. We know that the future of many teams depends on the Tour. I hope everyone will act seriously."

"There has been a lot of political support for the Tour in recent months. Among others, the French Minister of Sport, Roxana Marassineanu, has done her best to organize the Tour. That is normal. The Tour is a global event. The Tour is a global event, and if it takes place, it will be the biggest global sporting event to be held this year."

The Tour is a global event, and if it takes place, it will be the biggest global sporting event to be held this year.