Thomas relieved to avoid downhill crash

GERAINT THOMAS breathed a sigh of relief at the finish of stage eight of the Tour de France after he survived a team pile-up at the bottom of a fast downhill section on the approach to Saint-Etienne.

The defending champion hit the tarmac after Canadian Michael Woods crashed in front of him and his Team Ineos team-mate Gianni Moscon. While the Italian’s bike smashed into pieces, Thomas was quickly up and riding again.

‘We were behind Woods and his team,’ Thomas said. ‘It was just unfortunate that he crashed in front of us and took us out. I was straight back up and into the group.’

Thomas set off in pursuit of the peloton just as the stage reached its final climb, the Cote de la Jaillere. ‘It was hard for sure,’ Thomas said. ‘Riders were getting dropped in front of me over the top of the climb. I had to close that gap so it was a big effort. But it’s encouraging that I had the legs to do it.’

The Welshman’s team-mate, Egan Bernal, was racing in the main group of favourites and only heard of Thomas’s crash through his radio earpiece. ‘I just heard them say, “crash, crash”,’ Bernal said.

‘But I expected him to come back. I was ready if I needed to wait for him but they didn’t ask me so I just stayed in the group. Today was one of the hardest stages. All day was full gas.’

Thomas may have survived another scare in the Tour but a hard day got tougher still when French duo Julian Alaphilippe and Thibaut Pinot moved clear in the final moments as they chased eventual stage winner Thomas de Gendt. Their move was enough to recapture the yellow jersey for Alaphilippe, while Pinot, now posing a serious challenge for final victory, stole back 19 seconds on Thomas.

Today’s ninth stage is likely to be equally testing as it traces the hot and undulating roads to Brioude. ‘None of these stages are going to open up big time gaps between the favourites,’ said Matt White, sports director of Adam Yates’ Mitchelton Scott team said.