British road race champion Geraint Thomas spent much of yesterday’s first Pyrenean mountain stage in the break, off the front on some of the toughest climbs in this year’s race. It marks a big change from the first time he rode the event in 2007, when he struggled around France at 21 years of age. He finished second-last then, but showed great determination for one so young.
Three years on, he is riding his second Tour and has shown strong progress. He was second in the cobble-stoned third stage of the race and fifth in the prologue, and also briefly sat in second overall and wore the white jersey as best young rider.
Two weeks into his second Tour de France, Thomas says he's feeling good. “I think back to when I last rode it and I was on my knees from day five,” he stated.
“I'm much better. I've ridden the Giro [d'Italia] since then, and I feel so much more ready and more prepared. I've been flat out every day, working for the team, but I feel like I'm recovering well.”
Going up the road yesterday was also a good sign. Thomas infiltrated a nine-man move after 25 kilometres of racing, and helped build a lead of ten minutes. He said that the idea was that he would get clear and then be able to help the other Team Sky riders if and when they were caught.
“It was hard getting into the break, we had to really force it,” he said. “The plan was to get me up the road, and then I could feed the guys half way up the climb. Once I was in the move I felt pretty good. When the elastic broke and we got away, it was good. That was half the battle over, really, because it's really hard to make that initial gap.”
The break split up on the climb of the Port de Pailhères, with Thomas slipping backwards. However that fitted in with the main plan, that of supporting and giving bottles to the top GC riders on the Team Sky squad.
“I was able to do my job. It was five, 6km up the first big climb that I was caught by Brad [Wiggins] and Thomas [Löfkvist] and I was able to help them out a bit.”
Löfkvist finished 19th on the stage, two minutes and 30 seconds behind the winner Christophe Riblon (Ag2r la Mondiale), while Wiggins was a further two minutes 29 seconds back in 36th. The net effect was that the Swedish rider moved above the Briton, and will start today’s stage two places ahead in 16th place.
Geraint Thomas is 58th overall, and will aim to support the two team leaders in the days ahead, then try for a strong peformance in Saturday’s final time trial.