Thomas shows he can blow away rivals

Carey is given a taste of things to come in the Ashes from an Archer bouncer

GERAINT THOMAS made a massive statement of lung power to show he is still the boss on the Tour de France’s day of reckoning.

Against most conventional wisdom, defending champion Thomas climbed to fifth in the general classification, above Team Ineos sidekick Egan Bernal, with a blistering ride on the freakish slopes of La Planche des Belles Filles.After a ride which massively improves his chances of back-toback Yellow Jerseys, Thomas, below, gasped: “I was starting to blow at the end – but it was decent.”

He has turned his fivesecond deficit on Bernal into a four-second lead, and with next week’s time trial to come his prospects of rolling into Paris sipping champagne again have increased markedly.

Belgium’s Dylan Teuns won the 100-mile stage six from Mulhouse, while Italian Giulio Ciccone took over the leader’s Yellow Jersey. But the real shift in power was Thomas coming fourth.

Short of competitive racing after his crash on last month’s Tour de Suisse, he answered his critics in style and said: “I don’t listen to tips, but I felt pretty good and I thought it would be more of a solid day. It’s never easy here, and I thought the steep climbs weren’t my cup of tea – I was expecting others, maybe Nairo Quintana, Egan, Adam Yates to jump up there, so it was a decent day in the end.”

It was a ride which sent out an explicit message to both his Team Ineos chums and the peloton as a whole.And the message read: I’m still in charge.

Today’s seventh stage, the longest of the race at 147 miles from Belfort to Chalon-sur-Saone, is pan-flat and effectively a rest day for the GC contenders.