Geraint Thomas expects he’ll have the prospect to race for a stage win at this yr’s Tour de France, the place he’ll help his Ineos Grenadiers teammates of their GC bids.
The 38-year-old, who received the yellow jersey in 2018, will line up in his thirteenth Tour on Saturday, returning to his former domestique function on the race. This time, Thomas will journey in help of Carlos Rodríguez, his staff’s outright chief, and Egan Bernal, who can be hoping for a powerful GC displaying.
Talking at a press convention outdoors Florence on Wednesday, Thomas stated Ineos can be “trying to be aggressive in the fitting methods” over the subsequent three weeks.
“I am tremendous excited to be right here,” he stated. “I missed it final yr, doing a unique programme. I did miss it. It is the largest bike race on the planet. To be right here with these guys, trying to be aggressive in the fitting methods, try to win some phases, and carry out within the GC clearly, it is thrilling for me and what I dreamed of as a child.”
Requested by Biking Weekly if he expects to be given licence to hunt for phases himself, Thomas stated: “I believe I am going to get the chance to go for a stage, however I believe that may additionally profit the blokes using GC as properly.
“Doubtlessly, I might be up the highway and never essentially have the legs for the stage, however you then’re up the highway to assist in different methods, you realize? I believe the 2 can work properly collectively.
“Let’s be sincere, there are different groups which have extra of a weight to take of the race than us, and greater favourites. I believe we are able to race in another way as properly. It isn’t like we’ll simply pull on the entrance one after the other till there’s one man left, as a result of that is simply not going to occur.”
Thomas’s final stage win on the Tour got here in 2018, when he triumphed within the yellow jersey on Alpe d’Huez.
Though he’s below contract at Ineos till the top of 2025, he stated he’s conscious that this yr’s version of the race “might be my final”.
“I am going to simply be targeted on the race and what we have got to do, to be sincere. I believe I’ll look again as soon as it is all finished,” he stated. “At the back of my thoughts, yeah, it might be my final, however I am not excited about that.”
The Welshman has not raced since putting third on the Giro d’Italia in Could, and involves the Tour off the again of a two-week altitude camp with the staff within the Alps.
“I positively did some good work,” he stated of his latest coaching. “Whether or not I did an excessive amount of or not sufficient, I will not know till we get going right here. So far, I’ve finished all the things I can to be in one of the best form and assist the blokes.”
The Tour de France begins this Saturday 29 June in Florence, Italy.
