Moment of truth is here in time trial
THE individual time trial is known as the ‘race of truth’ and Geraint Thomas’s moment comes this afternoon on one of the toughest courses in recent Tour history.
There is not a metre of flat road in the 31km between Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle and Espelette in the heart of the Basque country – and there is a painful sting in the tail with a short, sharp 20 per cent climb a couple of kilometres from the finish.
The high-speed descent from that ramp could also prove crucial.
A lead of 2mins 5secs over Tom Dumoulin and another 19 seconds over Primoz Roglic should be enough if Thomas rides to his form. It should also provide a buffer against mechanical problems.
The Sky team car riding behind Thomas will have three spare TT bikes for Thomas – each worth £20,000 – on the roof and two mechanics in the back seats ready to spring into action.
Earlier in the day, Sky will film the rides of Michal Kwiatkowski and Egan Bernal and feed that information back to Thomas and Chris Froome.
As the wearer of the Yellow Jersey, Thomas will be last out of the start gate, which will afford him the luxury of having the time gaps of his rivals relayed through his earpiece at regular intervals. The big unknown will be the weather. Storms have been predicted all week and if it rains heavily, the course could become slippy as the riders press for valuable seconds. And when that happens, crashes and time losses soon follow.
Dumoulin is the reigning world time-trial champion and will start as marginal favourite to win the stage, although Roglic – silver medallist at the worlds – is also brilliant against the clock.
Thomas, who claimed a commanding win in the British championship last month, was brought up on TT courses in Wales and England. And as a two-time Olympic gold medallist in the team pursuit, measuring his effort comes easily to him.
The big unknown will be the weather