GERAINT THOMAS
Giro participations: Three
Best GC result: 80th (2012)
Best stage result: Two second places (2012, 2017)
This wasn’t in the plan for Thomas. All year he has been talking up a GC attempt at the Tour de France alongside Egan Bernal and Chris Froome, but the Critérium du Dauphiné put paid to that target. If you weren’t following it, this traditional Tour de France warm-up race saw Thomas and Froome finish in the gruppetto together on the final day, rather than bothering the podium as they would have hoped. Cue new goalposts: the Giro for Thomas, where he would be the team leader; and the same for Froome at the Vuelta.
Even after another month of training, it must have been with some trepidation that the Welshman went into Tirrenoadriatico,
looking to gauge his form for the Italian Grand Tour. Thankfully for him, it worked out and he will take heart from his second-place finish on GC, 17 seconds behind Simon Yates.
“I definitely feel the form coming along,” the Welshman told CW after that race. “We had some good racing here and I feel a lot better than in [Tour de] l’ain and the Dauphiné, so it has been really positive here at Tirreno.
“I think on the climbs I’ve shown that I’m in excellent form.”
Thomas has only ridden three Giros during his 14-season pro career, two of which were in his formative years and during Olympic seasons when he was still concentrating on the track. The last time, in 2017, he went in as team leader and in excellent form, but was forced to abandon after crashing, so he has unfinished business there.
Despite his false start, Thomas is clearly back in excellent shape and will be looking forward to a Giro which, with three individual time trials, will play to his strengths. Yates, who looks like his chief rival, may have won the initial skirmish at Tirreno, but the amount of time trialling – especially against Thomas – will be a concern for him and he’ll be forced onto the front foot in the mountains. Thomas, meanwhile, could get away with defending in the mountains if he’s not feeling
100 per cent.
At 34, the Welshman probably only has one or two seasons left to win another Grand Tour and as he has already said this month he wants to make the most of every opportunity. He can be considered a very real candidate for the pink jersey in Milan this month.