- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
Geraint Thomas (picture courtesy Protect Your Bubble).jpgInterview: Geraint Thomas on TUEs, disc brakes, Shane Sutton and more
Geraint Thomas has shared with road.cc his views on some of the hottest current topics in cycling including disc brakes and therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs).
In the first part of a two-part interview, the 30-year-old, who was speaking by phone from the team’s training camp in Mallorca, the two-time Olympic champion and 2016 Paris-Nice winner also spoke about proposals to reduce the number of riders per team in major races, and shared his thoughts on Shane Sutton.
TUEs – "If you’ve got asthma, go and work in an office"
Tomorrow, Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford, among others, will appear before the Culture, Media and Sport select committee to answer questions on issues including the use of Therapeutic Use Exemptions that allow riders to race while taking medication that would otherwise be banned.
Following the Rio Olympic Games, medical records published by hackers who had accessed the World Anti-Doping Agency’s database showed that both Chris Froome and Sir Bradley Wiggins had been granted TUEs – in Wiggins’ case, because of allergies to pollen and grass, with the certificates issued ahead of the 2011 and 2012 Tour de France, and the 2013.
Thomas, who told us he’s never had a TUE himself, said the authorities “should do more to take out grey area.
“Brad ticked all the boxes,” he continued, “but the issue is how they dish them out, what’s involved.
“If someone has asthma and it reduces their performance by 8 per cent but they take a drug and it increases it by 12, how do you even measure that?
“It’s a hard one but at the end of the day you could just ban all that stuff anyway. If you’ve got asthma, go and work in an office or something,” he added.
>Read more: UCI boss urges Team Sky to come clean over Wiggins mystery medical package
Disc brakes – “safety first”
With the UCI reintroducing its trial of disc brakes in the peloton after suspending it earlier this year on safety grounds, we asked Thomas his view of them.
“I think disc brakes are a big advantage now and help with braking especially when it’s wet on steep descents,” he said. “But there’s no point in rushing it into the peloton, some people are on it, some aren’t.”
Referring to the picture of Fran Ventoso’s injuries at Paris-Roubaix which the Movistar rider said had been caused by a disc brake during a crash, Thomas said: “Whether it was due to a disc or not, I think you’ve got to take safety first and make sure they’re not going to injure any riders unnecessarily.”
“Once you get that box ticked, I’d be all for it, but at the moment there’s no point trying to rush it into the peloton."
>Read more: Everything you need to know about disc brakes
Fewer riders in major races?
Another hot topic in the sport is the attempt by race organisers ASO, RCS and Flanders Classics to reduce the number of riders in teams in Grand Tours from nine to eight, and in other races from eight to seven.
The proposal, rejected by the UCI, was chiefly made on safety grounds. Thomas is broadly in favour.
“If they want to make it eight, that’s fine by me. But you can’t spring it on everyone a couple of months before the new season,” with teams already having finalised their 2017 rosters based on the current regulations.
“Twenty riders less in the field would make a difference and change the racing.
“But at the end of the day a lot of this comes down to how we race. The guy who just takes too many stupid risks, it’s going to be stupid crashes. will still cause crashes.
“There’s always going to be desperate people, especially in the big races. Coming into a bunch sprint in the Tour, if someone can win a stage it could change their life.”
Another reason behind the race organisers wanting fewer riders was to lessen the impact of certain teams having too much dominance – interpreted by many as a reference to the way Team Sky race the mountain stages at the Tour, setting a tempo at the front of the group that makes it difficult for rivals to attack.
Thomas doesn’t think that would make much difference, however. “If you took out Kiryienka, say you’d still have six climbers. It’s how we race, not the number of riders we have, or the cards we have to play.”
> Read more: Smaller teams for Tour de France & Classics will improve rider safety
“Sutton – I’d back him any time”
With the controversy over the allegations of sexual discrimination brought by Jess Varnish against former Great Britain Cycling Team technical director Shane Sutton still rumbling on, we asked Thomas for his views of the Australian.
Few have had as long a relationship with him as Thomas, dating back to when Sutton was a coach with Welsh Cycling, on through his spell with Great Britain on the track which brought him Olympic gold medals at Beijing and London, and with Team Sky.
“Speaking from personal experience, Shane is the key guy who got me where I am. He’s done so much for so many people.
“He’s not bipolar but he has characteristics. He can bite your head off one minute and save it the next.
“I’d back him any time. He’s done a hell of a lot of good,” Thomas added.
Geraint Thomas is the ambassador for bicycle insurance provider Protect Your Bubble
Their cycle insurance covers road bikes, hybrid bikes, mountain bikes, and more, against theft, accidental damage and vandalism. Discounts for insuring multiple bikes are available.
> Read more: Jess Varnish's lawyer asks for British Cycling to hand over all data on cyclist
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- Dunnoeither 12 min 38 sec ago
Thankfully no one here lives in a country with a history of colonialism, slavery or a corrupt financial industry (the list goes on)so we can point...
- Mr Blackbird 1 hour 1 min ago
Chris Froome should retire immediately before more people forget how brilliant he was. A better climber and time trialler than pogacar (although it...
- Mr Blackbird 2 hours 55 min ago
I agree. The officials probably earn a pittance or just get paid expenses. They do what they do for love of the sport. Without them the sport would...
- ubercurmudgeon 2 hours 21 min ago
Those rainbow bands look more like plaid at that speed.
- Hirsute 4 hours 13 min ago
Oxford from Emily Kerr "Anyone know anything about the THIRD major smash up on Iffley Rd in my ward in a year? "
- Miller 5 hours 29 min ago
It may not be as bad as made out but it's not great. In fact it is frustrating because bits of it are actually quite good but it repeatedly does...
- bensynnock 6 hours 13 min ago
There also seems a constant requirement for public consultation about every change to three roads, but I don't remember there being any...
Add new comment
12 comments
I've had asthma for 18 years, got medded out of the Army with it. If I require a course of steroids, I'm in no fit state to ride a bike at all. Difficult to understand how a true asthmatic is gaining an advantage if they're genuinely ill. You have to be in a proper shit state for a GP to prescribe them too, they don't hand them out like toffees. It's a difficult process convincing the docs you need them. It's a bit confusing how someone is able to operate at elite level, then win, whilst requiring medication more powerful than something I can get hold of if 'bedridden', pardon the pun. They should let the money grabbing fuckers take whatever they want, better entertainment and it's their lives they're ruining, we're all adults with choices to make.
Totally agree with the sentiment, apart from the last bit. Let them take whatever drugs they like, and there'll be no advantage to be gained via them. We've seen this already in cycling... Pros take PEDs to cheat, not for the love of the drugs.
So then you get other methods of cheating with transfusions and motors.
If the TdF becomes people pegging it up Mont Ventoux on mopeds while full of other people's blood, the sport will die and there won't be any money to be grabbed.
I read it as a general comment on the possibility of medication overcompensating for a condition. Asthma was just mentioned as an obvious example.
Inhaled corticosteroids don't need a TUE.
Look out for the second part of the interview where GT discusses the things that are covered in this interview?
I am not sure where he gets his figures about asthma reducing your performance by 8% and Ventolin increasing it by 12%? As far as I am aware there is no evidence that bronchodilators do anything other than restore your normal performance.
If he is making a general point that people shouldn’t take medication to ensure that they can maintain their normal performance levels despite a medical condition, then surely he is lobbing a few boulders around his glass house here?
I understood that after having your spleen removed then it is recommended to have low dose antibiotics for the rest of your life to reduce the risk of contracting an infection.
He didn't say Ventolin, only the real tinfoil hatters seem to have a problem with that.... corticoids on the other hand....
After reading it properly (!) I can see he was responding to a question about TUEs, so I guess you are right as you don’t need a TUE for salbutamol.
His comment about not cycling for a living in that case is a bit strange in that case though, as asthmatics might suffer exacerbations at some point, but can go years between courses of steroids if their symptoms are well controlled with their inhalers. I would have thought a more sensible course of action would be to ban riders from competing while they are taking steroid tablets.
The problem is medications aren't just prescribed for one illness. If I have a gout attack then I'm prescribed the same steroids a doctor would give me for an acute asthma attack - but in the hope that I will then be able to get my shoe on rather thanb breathing more easily.
Of course gout is easily diagnosed and monitored, so there's probably little risk of people pretending to have gout just to get some prednisolone, but currently I can time trial under a TUE if I have prednisolone for a gout attack (although the first time I tried it last season was my worst outing of the year, and not jsut because I had to wear a winter shoe on one foot....)
Off-topic, but if you suffer from gout attacks, I can heartily recommend taking concentrated Montmorency cherry juice on a daily basis. Other cherry juice should work, but Montmorency has higher levels of anthocyanins (the anti-inflammatory bit).
You aren't just prescribed Ventolin to treat asthma though, it's a reliever (blue) inhaler for when you have an attack, you'll be using a preventer (brown) inhaler daily to stop you getting the attacks in the first place, which contains budesonide which is a corticosteroid.
It's just not as simple as G is making out at all and I don't know why he thinks being able to simply breath properly means youre performance is 4% better
I'd like to see more interviews like these. A really nice insight.