Richard Carapaz won the Tour de Suisse. Tadej Pogačar was the home hero in Slovenia. Geraint Thomas reigned in Romandie.

And Primož Roglič, the fourth contender for this year’s Tour de France?

He was perched on top of a mountain, breathing the rarefied air of the French Alps.

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The Slovenian is currently experiencing his fifth week at altitude in the past two months. Roglič’s race-free approach to the Tour de France is a path that deviates greatly from a decades-long yellow jersey-like racing scenario.

Jumbo-Visma sees this as a strategy full of potential. Ineos Grenadiers sees an opportunity in Roglič’s long break from the competition.

“Roglič not being in the race, it is more of an unknown for Jumbo-Visma than for us”, declared Gabriel Rasch, sporting director of Ineos Grenadiers.

“We raced with everyone and we saw our level, we know our level. But for them, it’s more of a question mark.

Ineos Grenadiers has won three stage races with three of his Tour de France wreckers in recent months.

While Carapaz and Thomas won in Switzerland, Richie Porte won the prestigious Critérium du Dauphiné. Prior to that, Porte and Thomas supported Adam Yates as he won the Volta a Catalunya.

Meanwhile, Roglič did not run from Liège-Bastogne-Liège, choosing instead to spend three weeks in the Sierra Nevada before two weeks in Tignes, France. When Roglič lines up for stage 1 of the Tour next weekend, it will be more than two months since he last pinned a number.

Roglič’s no-race strategy is rarely seen in the history of the yellow jersey.

If that works, it could rewrite the way teams approach the biggest race of the year. If that fails, that could be the talking point of the season.

Train to run, or run to run?

The Dauphiné, Switzerland and the Tour de Romandie have long served as a springboard to the Tour. If victory there does not guarantee a yellow jersey in Paris, it offers the opportunity to iron out the flaws in tactics and teamwork a few weeks before the Tour.

It certainly worked for Ineos Grenadiers with his sweep of early summer stage races.

“Le Dauphiné, Catalonia, these races gave us a lot of confidence in the way we were riding as a team,” Rasch told a small group of media.

“They were very important for the group in general. Their belief in the way we ride, their mutual trust, making them a group in and out of the race.

“I think we’re really on the right track for the Tour – the guys have been performing well and the team is looking really good.

Ineos Grenadiers sent what could almost have been his Tour de France squad in the Dauphiné. The United Arab Emirates also asked a Tour-lite team to support Pogačar on their way to the Tour of Slovenia victory last week.

Jumbo-Visma did not however completely give up the preparation races. In Roglič’s absence, the Dutch team sent Tour de France shoo-ins Sepp Kuss, Steven Kruijswijk, Jonas Vingegaard and Robert Gesink to the Dauphiné earlier this month.

The hope is that Roglič can parachute out of altitude in great shape and straight into a Jumbo-Visma selection made up during the Tour next weekend.

“The past has shown that I am immediately very good after an altitude training camp,” said Roglič Race magazine.

“After training camp, I don’t need endurance to be in great shape. And I think you’re very mentally fresh when you don’t have to worry about competing in the weeks leading up to the Tour.

Roglič has long had last week’s fatigue albatross tied around his neck.

At the Giro d’Italia 2019, he collapsed from the pink jersey in the finals. A year later, at the Tour, he was dethroned by the unique Pogacar mountain time trial. Even Roglič’s ride to his second red jersey in last year’s Vuelta a España nearly derailed last week by a resurgent Carapaz.

Roglič knows fatigue is the flaw in his grand tour armor. He and Jumbo Visma hope it can be avoided this year with his no-race approach.

“We have noticed in a number of the big laps that I am often a little tired in the third week,” said Roglič. “We hope to avoid this by not running. “

Different shots for different people

Roglic’s approach is not universal.

Many runners can only reach their greatest numbers and refine their form by chasing wheels or fighting for a finish line.

Jumbo-Visma’s performance directors claim that Roglič’s ability to endure the solo suffering of training drills means that he can easily mimic the pace of the race on his own – while remaining mentally fresh and free from the accidents which saw him abandon last year’s Dauphiné a day earlier.

“Primož is rare because not all runners can achieve the right intensity in training,” said Roglič coach Mathieu Heijboer. VeloNews.

“Some need the pressure of the race, but Primož can really emulate that on his own. You can therefore perfectly control the volume and intensity. We are convinced that it can work.

Roglič’s decision to camp in Tignes and Pogacar’s preference for his Slovenian native roads mean it’s been a very long time since the best dogs on the Tour have competed against each other.

While Roglič, Pogacar and Carapaz last clashed in the Basque Country of Itzulia in early April, Thomas did not see Pogacar from Tirreno-Adriatico in March. The Welshman hasn’t run Roglič for almost 10 months.

The inability to directly rank the Tour’s top four contenders based on recent races makes this year’s Tour an intriguing event.

Pogacar, Thomas and Carapaz all followed their own unique set of stepping stones to the Great departure. Roglič has passed these stones and will land in France fresh like a daisy – but full of uncertainty.

“I understand that many people in the cycling world are surprised by our approach,” said Roglič. “However, we believe in it.”

Will Roglič and Jumbo-Visma rewrite the pre-Tour playbook by not running?

They think so. The result in Paris will give the definitive answer.