INTERVIEW: GERAINT THOMAS
The defending Tour champion on his race build-up and relationship with Chris Froome
The Tour champion partied hard after his Tour win in 2018 but says the victory means he knows what level he needs to reach to defend his title. And he’s not worried about an internal challenge from team-mate Chris Froome either, he tells Procycling
Since your Tour win, have you changed as a rider? Become more confident, perhaps? Not really. I think it gives me a bit more more confidence and I know what I’ve got to do to get to that level. I can’t affect the other guys and how good they’ll be, but yes, I think it’s given me a good boost for sure. And morale is just high from that success. I don’t feel any extra pressure – if anything, less, because I’ve achieved what I wanted to now and everything is sort of a bonus. That doesn’t mean to say I’m any less motivated, but I just don’t feel like there’s any extra pressure. I enjoy training and racing and getting back down to that weight. I know what sort of powers I need to be around to get to that level. But who knows with the way guys are going this year? Every year’s different, every race is different.
We’re at the Tour of the Basque Country, so it’s early, but just in terms of last year, how are you tracking form-wise?
It’s a bit different. My winter was totally different. I was a lot busier. I started about three weeks later; I began at the end of November compared to the start. I think I was a bit bigger because there was a lot of celebrating, a lot of downtime and I wanted to make the most of that. Especially in this game, especially in Sky, we can be a bit blasé. Paris-Nice for instance. It’s kind of like, ‘Well done, we won it,’ but we should do, we’ve won six or whatever already. I was like, ‘F*ck, man, it’s the Tour! I’m going to celebrate this!’ It’s the biggest thing I can do, so I really did that. Obviously it means that now it takes a bit longer to get back. But I feel like the power is decent, it’s good. I’m carrying a bit of extra weight, which is not ideal here, but it’ll be a good solid week, which I need. Having that stomach issue in Tirreno wasn’t ideal, so I didn’t get those two hard days, but I’ve done some decent training.
Strength within Sky has arguably never been higher. How do you feel about the internal competition this year?
When you see the younger guys performing it certainly keeps me and Froomey motivated, and then obviously me and Froomey push each other as well. I think that healthy competition in the team is good and what has made us so successful in the past. Not just from me and Froomey and whoever, but all the way down through the team, you know – Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard, Dylan van Baarle, Gianni Moscon, Christian Knees are all fighting for those spots. I think that’s what makes the team so successful, because everyone wants to be part of the Tour team and we’re fighting all the way.
Chris has won four Tours. You’ve won one. Are you in any way worried that Froome’s results will command precedence this year?
Not really. I think it’s just like every year: if you’ve got the legs on the road in the race, it’s decided there. It’s not like we’re going to race each other, that’s the main thing. Hopefully we win. I’ve had so many questions about it. Everyone sees it as just between us two who’s going to win, but there’s a hell of a lot of other good bike riders out there who are striving to win and hungry to win that first time. It’s definitely not a given that it’s going to be between me and Froomey. We’ve definitely got a lot of work to do to get back up there, so like I say, once we get on to the road, whoever is going better will be in front, and that’s that.
Are you and Froome being kept apart on separate race programmes?
No. I did the programme that I wanted and the one that I felt would get me in the best shape. Froomey never really does Tirreno or the Basque Country. I didn’t want to do Tirreno and then a few days later have to go to Catalunya. I’d prefer to do a bit of a training block, come here and then go to Romandie. Froomey didn’t like Romandie. Now that he’s won it, he kind of likes to stay away because the weather is generally bad. But we still train together. We still see each other, so we’re not avoiding each other.
How often are you training together?
He’s been in Colombia. I’d say the last month, not that much actually – two or three times. But then in May we’ll be in Tenerife together for the pre-Tour camp. Pretty much after Romandie we’re going to be together a lot until he goes to the Dauphiné and I go to the Tour de Suisse. I want to go and try and win Suisse because I was second there a few years ago [2015] by five seconds from Simon Špilak.
The general consensus is that the Dauphiné offers better Tour prep to the Tour de Suisse, though...
Yeah. I don’t know why, but I think it’s fine. Well, we’ll find out this year won’t we!
Besides the GC riders with a strong TT, are there any climbers that you fear?
I’d say there’s no one I fear. I think looking at it this year, it seems like Nairo Quintana has made a bit of a resurgence – he’s sort of back and going really well. I think the Yates twins, both of them – either of them – are super talents and improving. There’s Primož Roglic, I think he’s improving all the time...
What makes Roglic so dangerous?
He came into the sport late and he’s a bit similar to me. I had the track holding me back... well, not holding me back, but once I went onto the road and really focused on that, I started to improve. And I think he’s similar and improving year on year. He is obviously going really well. And he has a strong team around him now. JumboVisma have really improved a lot as a whole. Astana as well – they’re strong this year. We’ve kind of been on top for a few years now to be shot at, but we’re still motivated and still pushing.
Have other teams developed an inferiority complex when it comes to Sky?
Maybe. I think when you’ve been so successful in the biggest races, then you kind of have that aura. You kind of stamp your authority on it: you do nail that preparation and the whole team is peaking at that point, and you’re able to be at the front because you’ve got the legs. And because you’re always there, people accept it a bit more. The only reason we’ve been able to do that is because we’ve had the strongest guy in the race.
And the strongest team?
Yes, for sure, but if we didn’t have the strongest guy then it’d be a lot different. We wouldn’t be able to ride and race the way we have, so it still always comes back to your leader and having that strength there. But I think every year is different. The depth now is massive. There’s a lot of guys going well and there’s a lot of teams in general trying to prepare for that goal. That’s what keeps us striving as well.
Will Ineos make a difference to this or do you anticipate it being business as usual?
I think so. They’re obviously going to
“Everyone sees it as just between me and Froome who’s going to win, but there’s a hell of a lot of other good bike riders out there who are striving to win and hungry to win that first time”
have a few ways of doing things, but I think at the end of the day Dave [Brailsford] has the authority to keep running it the way he has. I think the main thing is keeping the philosophy in the team and I think it’s great that it’s British. I was just happy for the team to continue, I wasn’t really fussed who it was. The fact it is British means that the mentality can stay the same and be consistent, so yeah, I can’t see it being much of a change.
Did you meet Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco before the deal was done?
I saw him, but I don’t know when it was. We did a little ride with him and his two sons.
Were the wheels of the deal in motion by that point?
I’m not sure. It was before or after Tirreno. I wasn’t part of the negotiation and stuff. I’m not sure how that came about, but we were on a recovery ride anyway and we did a little ride with them. They’re really interesting guys. They’ve done a lot of extreme challenges, like going to the North and South Poles and doing all these epic challenges. They were interesting guys. It was nice as well. It was different to going out with the same guys in the team, talking about the same things.
One thing that’s been bubbling away this season is Operation Aderlass, the Austrian blood doping ring concerning riders Stefan Denifl and Georg Preidler. Tom Dumoulin said that perhaps the eye has been taken off the ball when it comes to anti-doping. Did he have a point?
I don’t think anti-doping has become any less... I certainly still get tested enough. I think if it was somebody in our team it would be a totally different story and everyone would be talking about it. Somebody mentioned it to me – I think it was Wout Poels – and only because he said it then I was like, ‘What is that?’ I had a look and was like, ‘Oh right, him,’ and nobody really knows. I think there’s a discrepancy in that. Maybe with the UCI, publically they seem to be talking about, like, the length of oversocks and I don’t know, random rules and all that type of crap, and you know, trying to talk about salary caps or talking about the number of riders in teams. Maybe from that point of view they could just stick to just trying to keep the progression of clean cycling going.
But when something like Operation Aderlass happens involving blood doping and a Vuelta stage winner, that obviously needs to be addressed...
But I don’t think that’s down to us, the riders, to do. I think that’s the UCI and journalists to actually find out what was going on and why. I’m not going to read that online and start my own investigation. Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s bad, but I don’t read cycling stuff, I like to just read about football and rugby and stay in my own bubble and be in my own little world. Maybe that’s wrong sometimes.
But as a Tour de France winner, probably one of the most interviewed riders on the circuit, do you think you’re getting as many questions about these matters as the case deserves?
I was pleasantly surprised that during the Tour, and winning the Tour, I didn’t get much, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing either because there were other things to talk about. It was refreshing. I don’t particularly want to be the guy that everyone comes to every time there’s some doping story. I feel I’ve said enough in the past for people to know where I stand and what I think.
The only thing that grates on me, which I kind of get, is the fact that we seem to be scrutinised as a team more than anybody else. There are a number of reasons why that is and that’s just the way it is and that’s fine, but when these other stories happen no-one seems to care, almost. They’re just trying to stop us winning the Tour by making us six riders, or kicking off that Ineos is coming in with a load of money. Who cares? It’s great for the sport that there’s a good sponsor and good money that keeps the sport developing. You want these big sponsors coming in to keep the sport moving forward. You need to keep that innovation and keep pushing.