“Could have been a lot worse” – Geraint Thomas's verdict on his Critérium du Dauphiné opening stage crash

Probably.

looks remarkably similar to the crash froome had before the TT in the giro. Just entering corner, fairly upright, just leaning over, front tyre gives way.

conincidence?

I'd go mainly a bit of (a) and (b) - he's been down a few times but if we include this crash then two of the last three  'big offs' - TdF and Paris-Roubaix - were nothing really to do with him. There's an awful lot of folk hitting the decks to a lesser or greater degree in races though - most of it is barely shown though, and mostly has little effect on the overall race, so not a great 'news' ticket. G's recent selection of collisions with the ground seem to have been pretty visible though - lucky him

Settle down, it was just a question.  He seems to me to crash more than other riders in the pro peloton.  Is that (a) my flawed perception; (b) him suffering an unusual run of bad luck; or (c) evidence of something going wrong in bike handling, tactics, whatever?

Olympic champion, junior Paris-Roubaix winner etc etc but no respect from the sofa surfers on here. Just as well he's busy racing instead of sniping about something he has no experience of.

Maybe its the new Sky method of winning races. Throw it down the road early, ride sore and under the radar for a bit, then when all the rivels relax, attack long and take the plaudits! 

*Tongue firmly in cheek

Maybe the bookies could start taking bets on what stage of the tour he's going to crash out

To be fair he spends more time on the floor than any other pro I follow. Could be  that he tends to crash when it matters most - which could be simple luck or something else - or it may be simply because every time he goes down it gets talked about. 

Either way, i am sure he would be more than competent on your average club run.

As an aside, last time I raced G, I beat him fair and square (if sitting on the back of a break for 70miles, before out sprinting someone who has barely turned 18 and a few weeks earlier had lost their spleen in an accident is deemed fair and square).

I wish I was good enough to hang on to him on a club run! 

There was this crash and Paris-Roubaix that I recall him going down in this year - although he's hardly to blame for that last one, crash in the peloton on the cobbles. He's done the Volta ao Argarve, Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour Down Under as well - don't remember hearing of crashes in them but don't really focus on them - it's bike racing, lots of people go down every race, some serious, some not.. certainly don't think G is a "liability" and i'd trust him in a club-run far more than some random club-member to be hones - just seemed like a really random thing to say....

• I could be limited in my viewing / knowledge, but how many recent races have there been in which Thomas hasn’t crashed?

?

The man is a liability, you wouldn't want him riding near you on a clubrun would you!