TIGHT AT TOP FOR THOMAS
Briton gears up for mind games with rivals
GERAINT THOMAS warned Yellow Jersey rivals Julian Alaphilippe and Thibaut Pinot they will have to “bite the bullet” after the Tour de France leaderboard became as compressed as a busker’s accordion.
As fellow Briton Simon Yates won his second stage in four days with a superb solo breakaway, defending champion Thomas clawed back 32 seconds of his deficit on overall leader Alaphilippe in the Pyrenees.
Although other rivals in the General Classification – notably Pinot – are now bunching behind Thomas like bounty hunters, and he felt constrained by Team Ineos and their co-leadership strategy, he is back in the mix for glory in Paris next Sunday.
And for the first time, Alaphilippe looks vulnerable. The Frenchman was so exhausted by the thrilling 115-mile transfer from Limoux to Foix, with a nasty seven-mile climb to the finish, that he was throwing up afterwards.
Pinot, who lost 100 seconds to Thomas in the crosswinds on the way to Albi last week, suddenly looks like the Welshman’s biggest threat after wiping out the deficit over the weekend.
After Saturday’s win at the Tourmalet summit, Pinot finished runner-up on stage 15 behind Yates, but Thomas remains second overall, 1min 35sec off the lead. Only 39 seconds separate Thomas from Emanuel Buchmann in sixth but, with Alaphilippe’s challenge heading towards the red zone, the ‘Prince of Wheels’ was satisfied after a dramatic stage.
He could have cut Alaphilippe’s lead a little more, but Team Ineos are still hedging their bets in the belief Colombian Egan Bernal can win the Tour if ‘G’ does not.
In fairness, it’s the closest Tour de France for 30 years. Take your pick between the two French riders desperate to deliver a first home winner since 1985, Thomas, Bernal and Dutch dark horse Steven Kruijswijk.
Thomas said: “It’s such a mental game now. Everyone will be feeling it, but you need to try and block out the tiredness, bite the bullet and dig in.
“I’ll draw on my experiences from last year, and hopefully that will help. I was suffering at times then as well, but it’s been a decent IN A GROOVE: GB’s Geraint
Thomas day all round. It’s a difficult one, tactics-wise – I wanted to go, I had the legs to go, but I wasn’t going to chase down Egan with Alaphilippe on my wheel. “I’ve no idea what Steven Kruijswijk said to me – I just told him we wouldn’t pull with Alaphilippe on the wheel. Then Steven attacked, which was good, but Alaphilippe stuck with us. “I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place – I had to wait a few kilometres, and that gave Thibaut Pinot time, but at least the legs are responding well. Pinot is going well but there are so many guys that are still so strong.” Yates delivered another stage win for the Mitchelton-Scott team. He said: “I was proud of what I did. It was extremely hard from start to finish, but I raced how I like to race – aggressive – and I managed to pull it off. “That took a lot of effort and I’m very tired, but there might be more chances for stage wins.” Today’s rest day is followed by a benign tootle starting and ending in Nimes on stage 16.