Thomas goes from ‘Plan B’ to contender for yellow jersey
Sky rider staking a claim to be allowed a free rein Van Avermaet in yellow as Martin wins stage six
He is officially here as Team Sky’s Plan B, albeit with a licence to race for himself until the first rest day next Monday. But after six stages Geraint Thomas must be starting to harbour serious hopes of doing some damage at this Tour de France.
Another excellent day for the Welsh rider saw him finish ninth on the famous hill outside the Breton town of Mur-de-bretagne, just three seconds behind the stage winner, Dan Martin. The Irish rider launched a bold solo attack with just over a kilometre remaining of the final 2km climb and was rewarded for his courage, holding on to beat AG2R’S Pierre Latour and erase the pain of his second place finish here three years ago.
Thomas’s result was the more significant in terms of the general classification, though. Thanks to two bonus seconds he nicked at the day’s final intermediate sprint, he climbed to second overall, just three seconds behind race leader Greg Van Avermaet (BMC).
That was despite the 32-year-old “chilling” up the final climb. “Everyone was on me so I thought I’d chill and let them [do the work],” Thomas said after finishing in a se- lect group that included Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe), Adam Yates (Mitchelton-scott) and Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-step Floors). “Dan was super strong so fair play,” he added. “Unfortunately I couldn’t get a podium there, as I’d have had enough seconds to get the jersey.”
He may not have the yellow jersey, but Thomas is consolidating his position with consistently high finishes day after day. Thirteenth in the stage-one sprint, 23rd in the stage-two sprint, second in the team time trial on stage three, 30th in the stage-four sprint, and now 12th and ninth on the two lumpiest days yet. That sort of consistency is indicative of a rider who is in form, positioning himself well and confident enough to fight for position.
If you can finish that far forward day after day, your rivals are inevitably going to lose time behind you. Yesterday it was the turn of Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) and Romain Bardet (AG2R). Dumoulin suffered a puncture inside the last 6km and then copped a 20-second time penalty for taking a tow back to the front. He dropped to 1min 23sec off the lead. Bardet had a late mechanical and lost half a minute. He is now giving away 1min 45sec.
In fact, what with Chris Froome (Sky), Richie Porte (BMC) and Yates all losing nearly a minute in the chaos of stage one on Saturday, Thomas is sitting very pretty indeed.
Seventh placed Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-drapac) is the closest of what you might call the genuine GC contenders and he was dropped on the final climb yesterday and is giving away over 40seconds to Thomas, with the prospect of more to come on Sunday when the race hits the cobblestones of Paris-roubaix.
Thomas, rightly, is not looking that far ahead. It was Dumoulin and Bardet yesterday. But he is well aware that it could just as easily be him today when the peloton comes steaming in to Chartres for another bunch sprint after 231km in the heat.
Thomas did allow that his legs were “feeling good”, and he is clearly in an excellent place mentally. He won the Criterium du Dauphine and the national time trial title last month and is expected to confirm soon that he has agreed a new contract to stay with Sky.
If he can maintain this position as we head into the mountains next week, he is going to be in a very interesting place indeed.