Geraint Thomas
Stage-by-stage guide
One of the longer stages at just under 190km and with 2,585m of climbing. If I had to put money on it I’d say it would end in a bunch sprint. The last climb is a good 25km from home. On the first day everyone will be keen to grab a jersey, so we could see some early attacks. The longest stage of the race at 211km and again features over 2,000m of climbing. But again, for me, it looks destined for a bunch sprint. The climbs are all in the early part of the day. If it’s blowing a gale on the long coastal section we could see some splits. One for the punchy, classics-type of rider – Philippe Gilbert or even my Sky team-mate Michal Kwiatkowski who will be targeting next month’s Worlds. There’s a short uphill finish into Scunthorpe but it’s not too hard. If Cav’s in decent shape he could definitely make it up there to win. Again, I can’t see anything but a bunch sprint. Given the ITT the next day riders will be looking to conserve energy. If one sprinter has won two or three bunch sprints by this stage, he could well be the GC favourite. If I was on tip-top form and targeting this race I might fancy it myself. This is Alex Dowsett’s backyard and the Movistar rider will have done everything to get himself into good shape. It’s only 16km long and flat so no one is going to be gaining significant time. But if someone can put 30-40 seconds into the sprinters that could be enough for the overall. Another sprint stage. To be honest I’d like this race to be a bit tougher, with a few harder climbs to drop the pure sprinters. Saying that, Aldeburgh is another coastal finish and if it’s blowing off the Suffolk coast it may not be as straightforward as people think. This looks like the toughest stage of the week, with 2,370m of climbing over 186km. If the race leader is not a sprinter by this stage, then whoever is leading on GC will almost certainly want to animate the stage and drop the faster guys by Cleeve Hill, a cat 2 climb in the last 10km. This is the day I am most looking forward to. These are my home roads, the ones I spent my formative years riding. The finish to this year’s race goes past the castle in Cardiff, past my gold postbox even! Unfortunately it doesn’t really suit me but it will be great to hear the home crowds.