Few sporting carnivals can rival the Grand Départ of the Tour de France. The bustling anticipation for the 3,338km of road ahead, fans mingling with riders as they exit their plush team buses.
When the 112th edition sets off from Lille Métropole shortly before noon on Saturday for a 185km out-and-back stage, also making their annual rendezvous will be those only known within cycling’s inner ring, the agents who secretly keep the riders’ show on the road. And not just financially.
Two Irish names will be among the peloton of 184 riders, and 23 teams. Eddie Dunbar will make his Tour debut aged 28 with the Australian-based Team Jayco-Alula, while Ben Healy, aged 24, will start his second Tour with US-based EF Education–EasyPost. Neither Dunbar nor Healy are team leaders, though both will have an eye on a stage win over the three weeks of racing.
As it happens, they are represented by two Dublin-born cousins. Gary McQuaid, who owns Brighton-based agency Altus Sports Management, represents Dunbar, while his cousin Andrew, who owns London-based Trinity Sports Management, represents Healy.
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Dunbar has started four Grand Tours before – the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, twice each – only the next three weeks will mark a step up in every conceivable sense. Gary McQuaid first signed Dunbar as a teenager, not long after he set up Altus in early 2016, and this first Tour start has been a long time coming.
“There was a lot of hype around Eddie for a few years, and some people down in Kanturk thought he was going to win the Tour de France,” says McQuaid. “So I’m really delighted he gets to start this time. For a lot of riders, the Grand Tour highlights at the end of their career will probably be in the Vuelta, or the Giro. Now he’ll get to witness the excitement and pandemonium of the Tour.
“His main role with Team Jayco will be to support Ben O’Connor. But he’ll also be thinking of a stage win. A lot of that will depend on what happens up the food chain, in terms of Ben. He’s the leader, but by the end of the first week, one or two teams will have lost their leaders. You don’t wish that on anyone, and I don’t think Eddie has GC (general classification) in mind anyway.
“But say mid-race the GC is no longer on the agenda for O’Connor, then for sure Eddie might be tasked with slipping into the break, doing something similar to what we saw in the Vuelta last year.”
There, Dunbar pulled off two brilliant stage wins – finally ending a long, frustrating period of illness and injury with his short solo breakaway victory on stage 11 in Padrón, before rattling the entire peloton to win stage 20 on the summit finish at Picón Blanco.
As it happens, Dunbar’s contract with Team Jayco expires at the end of the season. McQuaid insists none of these typically clandestine business dealings in Lille this weekend go beyond ensuring the best contract for his own riders.
“We don’t go after reach other’s riders, thankfully. There is a code, a kind of gentleman’s code, I would never make approaches to another agent’s rider. But if a rider was a bit disgruntled in the service they were getting, they could reach out and connect. Like at a time they’re meant to be signing an extension to a representation agreement, they might want to hear from an alternative.
“The busy part is locking down the contracts or extensions for your existing roster. I started the season with five riders whose contracts expire at the end of this year, and there’s still a couple to sort, including Eddie.
“The sport is also getting younger and younger, so if say you’re a 29-year-old, without a series of victories, it can be a more difficult dynamic. That’s the kind of thing which can keep me awake at night. You also want your riders to be happy, and most agents would prefer to keep their riders in that same team. And if it isn’t broke there shouldn’t be any reason why riders would want to leave.
“It’s about keeping them happy in terms of performance, as much as financially. But after six or seven years, maybe they would want to listen to an alternative. So lots of drinking coffee in several hotels around Lille, and a lot of agents will get together on one of the nights and trade war stories.”
In all, five riders who McQuaid represents will start the Tour. Anyone can become a rider’s agent, once they pass a UCI exam at a cost of 600 Swiss Francs (€641). There are about 85 registered worldwide, with maybe half that in operation, each taking between 5 and 7 per cent of the rider’s earnings.
“Rider contracts can be structured in a gazillion different ways. Your average rider on any team contract, earning mid to high, is incentivised for all victories. Most riders who are GC riders, they will have few clauses, where a podium in a Grand Tour such as the Giro or Vuelta will adjust their salary to such an amount.
“The Tour is another level again. At the end of the day, if a rider is winning the bonuses in their contract, the team will be happy with them. You can still work out personal endorsements, like shoe contracts, for certain riders, provided they’re not in a category competition with any team sponsors. But the riders are paid very well so the teams don’t have to worry with those personal deals.”
It helps considerably to have an inside knowledge of cycling. McQuaid raced on the Irish Under-23 team, and comes from a dynasty in Irish cycling: his uncle Pat (Andrew’s father) was UCI president from 2005 to 2013, which were particularly challenging times in world cycling.
It’s 20 years now since Lance Armstrong won the last of his seven successive Tours, all now annulled. McQuaid is not saying the peloton will ever be doping-free, but does believe it’s in a better place.
“[Doping] isn’t in the conversation like that any more, certainly not with the younger riders. There’s never been any rider that I wanted to recruit that I would have had questions about. I’m at the point now where I am quite selective anyway, and don’t really add to my roster unless it’s a very unique case, a rare talent.
“But there really aren’t many red flags with youngsters these days. They’re too switched on, know what happens if they’re to do anything questionable. It’s a career-ender. It’s not a slap on the wrist any more. They’re not stupid, really, to go that way. They’re all tested so much now, and there are a lot of other sports which could do with catching up.”
Tadej Pogačar, the 26-year-old from Slovenia, is the hot favourite to win his fourth Tour in six years. His latest contract with UAE-Team Emirates is reportedly worth €50 million over six years.
“I don’t mind saying that Tadej is too good,” says McQuaid, “and I’d like nothing better than a closely-fought contest, maybe a different winner this year. A Tour will always be more entertaining where there are four or five potential winners.
“But at the same time, he’s already considered by many as the greatest of all time. Eddy Merckx has said that he [Pogačar] is going to be better than he was. He’s just an absolute savage. But creating the drama is a bit more difficult if he’s a few minutes up after the first week.
“But people who don’t watch cycling will always watch the Tour, same as people who don’t watch tennis will always watch Wimbledon, so I think cycling is still in a good place.”
♦ TG4 have live coverage of every stage of the Tour de France.
5 key stages
Stage 5: Wednesday, July 9th: Caen to Caen, 33km individual time-trial
One of the longer time-trials of recent Tours and potentially the first decisive day in the battle for the GC. An out-and-back route on the wide and rolling plains northeast of Caen. It will suit the most powerful ‘rouleur’, none more than Italy’s hour-record holder Filippo Ganna. Jonas Vingegaard has had a slight edge on Pogačar in recent Tour time-trials, but the Dane will need to make every second count.
Stage 10: Monday, July 14th: Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy, 163km
The first blockbuster day of climbs in the Massif Central, setting a new Tour record for the most second-category climbs on a single stage. All unfolding on Bastille Day too. With 4,400m of vertical gain, the pressure and expectation will be on a French ‘grimpeur’ to lead the way, before the brutal finish up Puy de Sancy. It’s an obvious chance for a breakaway too, and likely to be marked out by Ireland’s Ben Healy.
Stage 12: Thursday, July 17th: Auch to Hautacam, 181km
The first long day in the Pyrenees, eventually climaxing up the suffocating Hautacam above Lourdes, where Pogačar is sure to make a big move towards the yellow jersey, if he hasn’t made it already. The pain begins before that, on the Col du Soulor, before the long 13.5km stretch up the Hautacam, featuring an especially brutal 2km of 10.8 per cent uphill gradient, coming when only halfway up.
Stage 16: Tuesday, July 22nd: Montpellier to Mont Ventoux, 172km
The start of the final week. Think barren moonscape, searing heat, and all the triumph and despair on the Giant of Provence. After making its Tour debut in 1951, Tom Simpson died here in 1967, Eddy Merckx crawled up in 1970, and Chris Froome ran up in 2016. Approaching from its steepest side, from Bédoin, it finishes at the observatory at just under 2,000m, the stage winner assured of their place in Tour history.
Stage 19, Friday, July 25th: Albertville to La Plagne, 130km
The final mountain stage, the climb to La Plagne. Forever remembered in Irish cycling history as the place where Stephen Roche kept alive his Tour victory in 1987, emptying himself in the last 5km on the long, punishing climb to limit the gap on Pedro Delgado. With the GC race likely decided by now, it might open the door for a secondary team rider to grab a stage, and who better here than Eddie Dunbar.
