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news
Geraint Thomas Cardiff homecoming 2018 (picture copyright) Charlie Forgham-Bailey, SWpix.com_Geraint Thomas "itching to go" as Tour de France heads towards Alps
Defending Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas says he is “itching to go” as the race heads away from the Pyrenees towards his more favoured terrain of the Alps where three stages later this week will determine the winner of the 106th edition – with Team Ineos boss Sir Dave Brailsford suggesting the battle could even come down to the very last climb.
Three-quarters of the way through a battle for the overall win that is the closest seen in many years, with the five riders behind surprise leader Julian Alaphilippe separated by just 39 seconds, Thomas has not yet reproduced the form that last year saw him win back-to-back mountain stages on his way to victory in Paris.
Those victories came at La Rosiere on Stage 11, when he took the yellow jersey, and the following day at Alpe d’Huez and speaking in Nimes on the second rest day of the race to the BBC Bespoke podcast and the Guardian, the Welshman said he felt “really strong” at the end of yesterday’s Stage 15 to Foix and that he is “relishing the Alps.”
Thomas, who lies second on GC 1 minute 35 seconds behind Alaphilippe, said: “I feel motivated to get there and try and finish this Tour off well. It’s been slightly up and down, compared to last year. I’m itching to go now. I much prefer the Alps. I’ve got a lot better memories of there.”
Team Ineos colleague Egan Bernal lies fifth, 27 seconds behind Thomas, who insisted there was no intra-team rivalry, adding: “Obviously, I want to be the one to win. The main thing is that we don’t race against each other and throw away the race.
“We’ve got to be honest with how we are feeling. If I’m on a really bad day and I just tell Egan to stay with me and we ride together and both lose a minute then that’s obviously not the way to go. I’m confident that we can keep that communication and honesty going.”
Alaphilippe’s leadership of the race, and a huge weekend for Groupama-FDJ’s Thibaut Pinot who won on the Tourmalet on Saturday and attacked again yesterday, his performances overturning the 1 minute 40 he lost due to crosswinds on the way to Albi this time last week, have France ablaze with the prospect of a first home winner since Bernard Hinault in 1985.
Should Alaphilippe falter, Pinot – now fourth overall, 1 minute 50 seconds behind his compatriot, and only 15 down on Thomas – would, as the form rider, be many people’s pick to prevail and Brailsford said that a win by either would be good for cycling as a whole.
He said: “If a French guy won the Tour de France then I think it would be a brilliant thing for the sport, for the Tour and it would be something that would light it all up. We’d have to go back to the drawing board but I think it would be a shot in the arm for the whole sport.”
Alaphilippe himself says he is taking the race “day by day” and has acknowledged his Deceuninck-Quick Step team is not set up to defend the race lead.
The Frenchman, yesterday dropped by his overall rivals for the first time in the race, said: “My jersey is hanging by a thread, but I’m very proud to have it on my shoulders.”
He added that he was trying not think about his rivals, and couldn’t say whether one is better than the others, but singled out Pinot, who has proven himself the strongest climber in the race to date, “to continue to attack and to race in an aggressive manner to shake up the course of things.”
Brailsford acknowledged that the French rider’s continued leadership of the race had contributed to its unpredictability.
“Nobody, myself included, expected Alaphilippe to hang on this long into the race,” he explaineed.
“Everyone was thinking ‘We have to do something to get rid of this guy, but we don’t want to overcook ourselves getting rid of him,’ because we were thinking inevitably he was going to go anyway.
“Everybody has been caught in the middle waiting to see what everyone else would do which is why the race is so uncontrolled.”
Brailsford added that the race could be heading towards a thrilling finale in the final Alpine stage to Val Thorens on Saturday.
He said: “You can’t rule it out on the very final climb. The last 800 metres, going up through the village there, you couldn’t rule out the race coming down to the finish on that very last mountain.”
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.
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12 comments
It's all getting rather exciting.
I'm wondering what the ever so under the radar Emanuel Buchmann can possibly do, just to make it even more exciting.
There's no chance for Alaphilippe. He is very talented and can do lots of things, but he isn't an out-and-out climber, and he doesn't have a team to help him. He has started to crack.
Stage 18 is an incredibly hard mountain day featuring Izoard and Galibier. He will lose minutes.
I've got no problem with Thomas, but I can't support Team Fracking and Plastics. I hope Pinot will judge his efforts and win, or Kruijswijk. If Kruijswijk wins, I'll feel that it was worth learning how to spell his name.
You're a loon, I bet you also think Froome didn't hurt himself and it was because there was an impending drugs test that he 'crashed' out and/or that the UCI wanted the TdF to be an even chance race this year so paid off Froome/SKY a few bob or more likely told them it's in exchange for not stitching them up for alleged doping?
Also you think it's only Ineos is on it and no other team except Ineos do deals with other teams, Alaphilippe has been wheelsucking virtually the whole race, he's a bit like Valverde but without the drugs suspicions. He's also had a bit of help from the motos more times than anyone else at the top table.
It's entertaining watching things, if Pinot gets it, then that's great, I honestly don't mind who so long as it's a fair race but according to you only SKY/Ineos cheat, you should stay out the sun and off the wife beater!
How about you use your “mind thingy “before you post shit . If Ineos are doing deals with other teams then that would mean other teams are doing deals with Ineos “ Scratch my back etc “ So obviously other teams are doing deals daaaaaaaaaa.
I can have whatever opinion I want about Froome and it’s the same opinion made by a lot of other fans . I also stated talking about Froome that I would see no reason for him to fake a injury so the UCI could cover up a doping issue, they could just as easily throw the results in the bin or make them go away ,I would guess-that they have probably done that before considering that cycling as always been a drug fest from its humble beginnings. Common sense .
I have I have no idea why you made this comment “ you should stay out of the sun and off the wife beater “ That’s hilarious, post some dates for any up and coming stand up gigs your doing . Your fucking amazing
I watched a couple of bits . Not following it that much but , Thomas cracked the other day and Alaphilippe cracked a bit as well . You can have bad days and in these long races you have to hide your bad days “ bluff “ if like team sky errr I mean team “wealthy , marginal drugs / gains “ you have a lot of strong riders you have more chance of dictating the race in your favour, doing deals with other teams ,letting breaks get away , try and null and void the stages you need to . It’s called tactics/ politics. scratch my back etc etc.
If riders are just sucking wheels until they need to then they can have a relatively easy tour .
Someone like Pinot and others should keep the pressure up . Thomas’s will crack like he has done for years when the racing never lets up . Alaphilippe might crack as well ,I have no idea , maybe he recovered , glitch . It’s not done a dusted , but stronger team mates would definitely help him. I think Nibali will do something mental a la a Bertie long range attack so I would keep a eye out for his wheel it could possible be the tour winnning if one of the GC contenders can follow similar to when Quintana followed Bertie and won . Anyway I hope they are all getting plenty of drugs down them and checking all the batteries in all their bikes for the tech bits and bobs . Pantani would be turning over in his grave . Where’s the soul gone . Maybe pinot can do it .
Clearly have not watched enough to know what you are talking about.
Bang on. Team Sky were so successful because they were so single minded. No other team has committed to the same degree to one single goal of TDF GC. Quickstep have done the same thing for years with the classics races and it's not like it stops the racing being interesting.
Brailsford said: "If a French guy won the Tour de France... I think it would be a shot in the arm for the whole sport.” Deliberate insinuation I wonder?
Probably unlikely given that Brailsford won the 2012 tour with a guy who lied about taking literal shots in the arm...
Still can’t quite see Alaphillipe holding on to yellow al, the way - the cracks are appearing and he just hasn’t got the team to support him - not their fault, they aren’t exactly a GC team! Bloody fantastic watching him though, especially a few stages ago when he took it to them all!
I expect G to get stronger in the last week, well, I’m sure that’s his plan and what his training program has been geared towards, in a similar way to how Froome tries to peak in the third week. However, Pinot looks spectacular and if he can hold it together for the third week and continue to strike out at his nearest rivals I can see him winning it.
It feels like there is a bit of a changing of the guard - Quintana, Nibali, Pinot all not shining (some again), Froome and Dumoulin missing and certainly question marks over whether Froome can ever reach the heights again after such horrendous injuries at his age.
Whoever wins, it’s been an unpredictable grand tour and great spectacle because of that. Vive le Tour!
PP
I like G, but I really admire Alaphilippe for his combative style... it would be good for the sport to have a 'surprise' and popular win in the TdF which has been so controlled for so long by Sky. I hope DQS can rise to the occasion and give him the support he needs.
Controlled? I don't think they have 'controlled' anything, they've had to fight tooth and nail turning their squad inside out with some of the top talent and using superb tacticswith everyone focussing on the same goal. As Brailsford has said, marginal gains.
If other GC teams applied themselves in the same way SKY/Ineos have we might have actually seen different winners.
loking at the way JA team members fell off on Sunday either they are done or they needed to have an easier day to come back a bit stronger for the Alps. I think in many ways having the rest day has really helped JA more than it does Ineos, another mountainous stage today and JA would have lost significant time IMHO.