Geraint Thomas - What should he aim for?

[Frosty]

The same Britain where, if i remember correctly, the tour of flanders result didnt even get a mention on bbc sport's website?

 

[El Pistolero]

If GT is only going to care about what the people in his country think he's not going to become a very good cyclist.

 

[williamp78]

I reckon Geraint could become a good classics rider though as someone else mentioned I think week-long races could easily be within his grasp if he concentrated on the road (he has already stated that the olympics will be his last track event). Apart from lacking a big sprint i think Geraint is comparable to EBH (i use EBH as an example as they are teammates) although he has never really been given the opportunity to ride for himself.

Also although I don't see him going for a GT the same was probably said about Bradley four years ago.

 

[Frosty]

If GT is only going to care about what the people in his country think he's not going to become a very good cyclist.

Hm....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/wales/17634055

 

[williamp78]

Shane Sutton is an aussie though?

 

[Frosty]

Shane Sutton is an aussie though?

Correct. He said GT was doing it for Wales though (even though he will be competing for GB).

 

[williamp78]

Interestingly sutton reckons GT could become a GT rider (how has no one come up with that pun yet!!)

He does raise an interesting argument though. The home olympics have affected a few people in a similar way; i suspect hoy may have retired by now (although he may have hung around for the commonwealths in glasgow), likewise quite a few veteran athletes such as paula radcliffe, christian malcolm, marlon devonish. Geraint has essentially postponed his road career for a year and sutton thinks its for the pride of the nation as opposed to personal desire. I'm not too sure on that.

 

[Frosty]

Yes, only G knows, but he'll only be 26 when the Games come round - plenty of years ahead to fulfil his potential on the road.

 

[MADRAZO]

At the moment his biggets and most unique quality is clearly his ability as a super 1-man-leadouttrain, thus fitting perfectly as a Cavendish helper in a strong Sky team also focussed on the GC and with limited resources for helpers. This role should get him a lot of money and also attention but few personal results. So thats up to his personal ambition I guess if that should be his main focus.

Otherwice he should definetly go for the classics, both cobbled and others as he can get over hills well too besides riding on cobbles, and also continue to focus on short time trials. Try to be a new Cancellara-kind of rider.

I guess he will propably end up continuing doing both things though, focussing on the classics for himself and then on the helping in the GTs, and he should be satisfied with that I think if he gets well enough payed.

 

[Caruut]

The same Britain where, if i remember correctly, the tour of flanders result didnt even get a mention on bbc sport's website?

It did not. Top of the cycling news for that day was Chris Hoy basically saying "Yep, I'm still training for the Olympics."

 

[iZnoGouD]

highlights??

 

[euanli]

He is the rider Sky have missed the most this classics campaign. Hopefully big things for him next year.

I think he will struggle this week though, I doubt he has road legs after so much time on the track. However if he does have road legs and as much of his track form as the prologue suggest, his lead outs for Cav are going to be huGe.

 

[Swifty's Cakes]

Are we talking about the same Britain who dont know the first thing about cycling (except tour and WC) and where only a minute fraction of the population could name you Britain's last monument winner.
Its getting better but not that fast.

Aye, if you asked most brits to name a monument their answer would be Nelson's Column.

More people are riding, but as far as competative cycling goes its only track and TDF. Free to air TV covered the Vuelta last year for the first time because Wiggins was in it but they aren't showing the Giro this year and no news yet about Vuelta. On the plus side they are showing Amgen California in May.

 

[Morbius]

The classics get no publicity in UK but that could change if we have a serious challenger which would bring more coverage. The public would latch onto PR very quickly given some of the old footage and photos - which I guess could mean that GT is pushed in that direction.

 

[Mellow Velo]

If you compare Wiggin's pro career and his, at the same point, G is ahead of the game. He's already shown true classics pedigree.
Similar backgrounds, yet at 25 Brad was a bit part player at Cofidis.
Ryo has it right. (for once) Lose a few kilos and he should climb pretty well.

Surely, he's got the potential to become something more than just a Welsh Mark Renshaw, as some seem to think..

 

[zigzag wanderer]

The same Britain where, if i remember correctly, the tour of flanders result didnt even get a mention on bbc sport's website?

Strangely though, the Tour of Romandie Prologue has a headline on the BBC Sport front page.

If a British rider wins a race, it'll get picked up by the BBC.

 

[Frosty]

Strangely though, the Tour of Romandie Prologue has a headline on the BBC Sport front page.

If a British rider wins a race, it'll get picked up by the BBC.

Yeah, very Brit rider dependent.

It'll get reported but whether many people see anything more than 'oh, he's won a big race' is debatable. i think Paris-Roubaix is the best known classic* so that might resonate more.

*World Championship road race is probably better known but thats more because it has 'world champion' in the title. Many people might confuse the world championships and the tour de france.

 

[zigzag wanderer]

Yeah, very Brit rider dependent.

It'll get reported but whether many people see anything more than 'oh, he's won a big race' is debatable. i think Paris-Roubaix is the best known classic* so that might resonate more.

*World Championship road race is probably better known but thats more because it has 'world champion' in the title. Many people might confuse the world championships and the tour de france.

Must admit that when I first started following cycling via Channel 4 in the UK, the only races other than the TdF I knew about were the Giro and P-R. Probably because Phil (pre Paul) mentioned them in the commentary.

Make no mistake, though, if a Brit wins Flanders the BBC will not be slow in letting its readers know what a massive deal it is.

 

[Hawkwood]

Oddly there was more coverage of classics on mainstream British TV in the 1970s than there is now. The World of Sport programme used to do a 10 minute round-up of the classics every spring, that's right 10 minutes for all of the classics!

 

[simo1733]

Must admit that when I first started following cycling via Channel 4 in the UK, the only races other than the TdF I knew about were the Giro and P-R. Probably because Phil (pre Paul) mentioned them in the commentary.

Make no mistake, though, if a Brit wins Flanders the BBC will not be slow in letting its readers know what a massive deal it is.

Cavendish got sfa coverage when he won MSR even Armstrong commented on it after reading the British newspapers on the flight back.Hopefully things have moved on a bit.

 

[zigzag wanderer]

Cavendish got sfa coverage when he won MSR even Armstrong commented on it after reading the British newspapers on the flight back.Hopefully things have moved on a bit.

Definitely they have. Romandie even got a BBC preview because it's Cavendish & Wiggins first race together. Obviously if a rider wins a big race outside the football season then they've hit the jackpot. As long as it's not during Wimbledon...

 

[Swifty's Cakes]

Cavendish got sfa coverage when he won MSR even Armstrong commented on it after reading the British newspapers on the flight back.Hopefully things have moved on a bit.

Yes, when put in that context things have moved on, now if a brit wins it makes that race newsworthy, the downside of this is that it means K-B-K > P-R.

I hope GT does concentrate on the spring classics because if he succeeds it will lead to an increase in TV coverage

 

[VO2 Max]

I think here in Wales there's just the beginning of worry that he might not be selfish enough to really achieve all that he could on the road. Obviously there are lots of Sky fan-boys so most seem happy he's staying there, but you've got to wonder whether it wouldn't have been better to move on after his results and performances last spring, ideally somewhere like OPQS where he could have been working for Boonen over the last month and really learning how to win big classics.

Difficult call though for him, it must be much harder for a GB rider making the decisions to specialise than most other countries because the track is so much higher profile than the road.

 

[hatcher]

I think here in Wales there's just the beginning of worry that he might not be selfish enough to really achieve all that he could on the road. Obviously there are lots of Sky fan-boys so most seem happy he's staying there, but you've got to wonder whether it wouldn't have been better to move on after his results and performances last spring, ideally somewhere like OPQS where he could have been working for Boonen over the last month and really learning how to win big classics.

Difficult call though for him, it must be much harder for a GB rider making the decisions to specialise than most other countries because the track is so much higher profile than the road.

He will 100% definitely get his chances to ride for himself. He will not become a career super-domestique; Brailsford knows he's a potential winner of good races.

In 2013 he will lead Sky on the cobbles alongside Flecha. Whether he'll get his chance to ride for himself in the bigger stage races next year depends so much on how Wiggins does in the Tour this year.

 

[kjetilraknerud]

I would suggest not to raise the expectations too high. If he ends up not winning a big classic the next 1-2 years this forum can easily characterize him as a failure. Similar to EBH who has received a lot of hype, but he still lacks that big win and ends up looking like a failure even though he is in a fact a very strong and talented rider. Don't send Thomas down the same road