Time trial triumph has Thomas in tip-top form for Le Tour
GERAINT Thomas continued his impressive preparations ahead of the Tour de France Grand Depart next weekend by winning the British Elite men’s time trial title for the first time.
The Welshman, 32, clocked 48 minutes and 54 seconds in Northumberland, beating Harry Tanfield into second place.
Following his victory in the Criterium du Dauphine, Team Sky’s Thomas will now proudly display the British champion’s TT jersey at the Tour.
Canyon Eisberg youngster Tanfield (49:31) edged out Team Katusha-Alpecin’s five-time champion Alex Dowsett (49:48).
““It’s great. Winning Dauphine was a big boost. I’ve done a good bit of training since and to come here and win the nationals for the first time is great,” said Thomas, who will now turns his attention to the start of the tour next Saturday.
“I’m really happy. I was confident but I really didn’t know what to expect. Obviously Tanfield has been riding really well this year and Dowsett, it’s what he does,” said Thomas after riding the 37.9km (23.5 miles) course
“Time trial in the UK is a strong discipline anyway – to come and win is nice.
“It’s going to be great, especially in the Tour, to wear that jersey. I won the road race a few years ago and to add the time trial to it is great.
“I’m super happy. I said at the start of the year that I wanted to get [to the Tour] in the best shape possible and I’m certainly on course to do that.
“I didn’t quite know how I was going to feel here because I trained pretty hard after the Dauphiné because it was still a month out from the Tour.
“I flew in late last night and this morning I was riding round thinking ‘did I do a bit too much the last few days?’”
With narrow roads and the field covering three laps of an 11.1km loop, there had been pre-race suggestions of congestion on the course, however, thankfully these never materialised.
“It was a good course,” added Thomas. “The traffic was fine, it was a bit bumpy in places and when you’re suffering a bit at the end you can hit a few holes, but that’s fine.
“It was challenging, they were grippy roads. Sometimes over in France you can hit downhills and you’re not even pedalling, but you’re constantly on the pedals here; it was a good test.”
Thomas had previously won the National Road Race title in 2010, but had never succeeded in the time trial before.
He is out of contract with Team Sky at the end of 2018 and says he is “close” to resolving his future before the Tour de France begins.
Earlier, Hannah Barnes also won her first national time trial title as she and younger sister Alice took gold and silver in the women’s event, with Scotland’s Neah Evans in third place.