Teams & Riders Geraint Thomas

[Taxus4a]

He is not so good as others but he beated the best of the moment:

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=22735
http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=19753

if you meanhe improve his level suddenly.. must be an esplanation. He has always focused in sorints, and I think he has not another capacity than sprint, so if there is not a motive, he cant improve a lot, he can just better years and worse years...

But it is not the same cae, if you have the potential to climb but you came from the track, you need a progresion, that progresiion is from to climb a little at to climb with the best, and that is possible.

 

[Vasilis]

Re:

So this just sounds like another Geraint Thomas thread. Unless there's a debate about Geraint Thomas versus Alberto Contador, I'm just going to merge this thread into the 'Geraint Thomas, the next British Hope' thread. Any objections?

Good idea

 

[Vasilis]

Re:

I think he won't manage to hold on all the way through the Alps.

I really hope he will!

 

[Zam_Olyas]

There was always hype from most Sky fans for Thomas Geraint when ever it was cobbles season ...so is he giving up cobbles to concentrate on stage racing?

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

There was always hype from most Sky fans for Thomas Geraint when ever it was cobbles season ...so is he giving up cobbles to concentrate on stage racing?

May not mean much but he did a Facebook Q+A at the start of the season and I asked If he would be switching his focus to just the one-day classics or to be more of a stage racer. He answered that he really enjoys both and has no reason to think that he can't be competitive in both. Maybe his performance in this years Tour will change his mind though?

 

[Red Lobster]

Re: Re:

May not mean much but he did a Facebook Q+A at the start of the season and I asked If he would be switching his focus to just the one-day classics or to be more of a stage racer. He answered that he really enjoys both and has no reason to think that he can't be competitive in both.

Interesting that he can luxuriate in such a ambitious posture. I look forward to watching this man challenge Quintana in the cols of the Tour and likewise punish Vanmarcke in the springtime cobbles. Based on my observation of procycling for the past 30 years, before this week I would have not thought such a man to exist but my eyes have been opened.

 

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

Re: Re:

May not mean much but he did a Facebook Q+A at the start of the season and I asked If he would be switching his focus to just the one-day classics or to be more of a stage racer. He answered that he really enjoys both and has no reason to think that he can't be competitive in both.

Interesting that he can luxuriate in such a ambitious posture. I look forward to watching this man challenge Quintana in the cols of the Tour and likewise punish Vanmarcke in the springtime cobbles. Based on my observation of procycling for the past 30 years, before this week I would have not thought such a man to exist but my eyes have been opened.

do you remember the badger from about 30 years ago? he did it better than G.

 

[SeriousSam]

Yes, one of the top 2 cyclists of all time did better than Geraint Thomas in terms of the things he won.

But as in all sports, cycling is much more competitive now. The specialists are going to ever greater lengths to win their narrow niches, raising the standards tremendously. To do what Hinault did today would be superhuman.

 

[Red Lobster]

Re: Re:

do you remember the badger from about 30 years ago? he did it better than G.

There are all sorts of responses I could give to this but I simply say "no he didn't".

ETA: I will clarify that to say that if Hinault at any time rode against Quintana and Vanmarcke I would appreciate a link to the video or other source.

 

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

Re:

Yes, one of the top 2 cyclists of all time did better than Geraint Thomas in terms of the things he won.

But as in all sports, cycling is much more competitive now. The specialists are going to ever greater lengths to win their narrow niches, raising the standards tremendously. To do what Hinault did today would be superhuman.

I thought specialization and targeted peaks throughout the season was since the 60s. Anyways Wigans almost did it so I wouldn't even be that impressed if G could.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

I thought specialization and targeted peaks throughout the season was since the 60s. Anyways Wigans almost did it so I wouldn't even be that impressed if G could.

Wiggins career best result in a cobbled classic is ninth place. If that's "almost" winning a cobbled classic there are a hell of a lot of riders in the peloton who have "almost" won one.

Specialisation has a history, but it has intensified drastically. It is no longer possible for the best all rounder to assemble the kind of palmares that the best generalist rider in the world used to do up until the time of Kelly. And even Kelly was an outlier in that regard. If Thomas manages to combine winning GTs with winning cobbled monuments, he will be not just an outlier but a complete freak.

That said, he hasn't really come close to doing it yet. He's 29 years old and has no really big wins at all, the closest being E3 followed by the Bayern Rundfahrt. While his performances this year have been amazing, he still hasn't actually won much for a guy who has been hyped since he was a teenager.

 

[fungusbear]

One thing that worries me about G is his age. He is only 1 year younger than Froome. Will he realisitcally be team leader of SKY anytime soon? Brailsford has said multiple times he sees G as the future leader as it were, but that is not gonna happen while Froome is still around. By the time he moves on, G will be passed his best. Does this mean tha he will take over from Porte and lead SKY at giro/vuelta?

 

[PremierAndrew]

One thing that worries me about G is his age. He is only 1 year younger than Froome. Will he realisitcally be team leader of SKY anytime soon? Brailsford has said multiple times he sees G as the future leader as it were, but that is not gonna happen while Froome is still around. By the time he moves on, G will be passed his best. Does this mean tha he will take over from Porte and lead SKY at giro/vuelta?

Seems like Froome is planning on leading Sky at the Vuelta too

 

[Gigs_98]

One thing that worries me about G is his age. He is only 1 year younger than Froome. Will he realisitcally be team leader of SKY anytime soon? Brailsford has said multiple times he sees G as the future leader as it were, but that is not gonna happen while Froome is still around. By the time he moves on, G will be passed his best. Does this mean tha he will take over from Porte and lead SKY at giro/vuelta?

I think one dominant british sky gc rider is enough

 

[fungusbear]

Haha perhaps but I wonder whether G will leave SKY to lead for himself. If he can top 5 this race + his cobbles prowess would I am sure interest a lot of teams. Be suprised if he left though.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Haha perhaps but I wonder whether G will leave SKY to lead for himself. If he can top 5 this race + his cobbles prowess would I am sure interest a lot of teams. Be suprised if he left though.

Even before he suddenly became one of the strongest climbers in the world, any team would have loved to have him for his riding on the cobbles and as a superb all round domestique. He's one of those riders any team would make room for, like say Navardauskas. Everyone likes an all purpose domestique who can also win some kind of races.

The issue now is balancing the biggest possible pay cheque with the most opportunities to lead. Sky will offer him as big a pay cheque as anyone else, so he can only be lured away by a team that can offer him a similarly big contract and the opportunity to lead more races.

 

[Jonhard]

I'm a fan of G and I suppose a believer, but I don't think he'll finish in the top 5 given what's left and the riders just behind him. If he manages no major losses and top 10, that would be a good result and make future GC thoughts plausible in theory.

 

[DBotero]

Geraint Thomas ‏@GeraintThomas86 5m5 minutes ago

Thanks for all your messages guys! All good with me luckily!! Wrong place wrong time I guess...

I'm happy he's ok.That crash was horrific.

 

[jens_attacks]

tough as a rock , g

glad that he's ok

 

[Tonton]

Not a fan of his, and very glad that he didn't get hurt. Tough dude.

 

[Kwibus]

I like his spirit. He seems to be unfazed by it all.
Ofcourse he probably was shaken when it happened, but it certainly doesnt seem to get to his head.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

I like his spirit. He seems to be unfazed by it all.
Ofcourse he probably was shaken when it happened, but it certainly doesnt seem to get to his head.

In his post-race interview (l'Equipe) he tells how the doc came to check on him, asked him who is name was, and GT replied "Chris Froome".

 

[R0BL4MBT0N]

"It's frustrating, I tried so hard to get over the climb, I don’t know why guys don’t just sit where they are on descents. It was hard for me to understand."

It's frustrating to see/hear comments like this. It is hard for me to understand how a pro can have this mindset.

 

[Choppy Warburton]

One thing that worries me about G is his age. He is only 1 year younger than Froome. Will he realisitcally be team leader of SKY anytime soon? Brailsford has said multiple times he sees G as the future leader as it were, but that is not gonna happen while Froome is still around. By the time he moves on, G will be passed his best. Does this mean tha he will take over from Porte and lead SKY at giro/vuelta?

Seems like Froome is planning on leading Sky at the Vuelta too

Might be a while before we see Froome at the Giro in Sky colours, could be an option for Thomas next year but as mentioned he hasn't really won anything to justify that award as yet. We're only now just learning that he can actually climb.

 

[DBotero]

Re:

"It's frustrating, I tried so hard to get over the climb, I don’t know why guys don’t just sit where they are on descents. It was hard for me to understand."

It's frustrating to see/hear comments like this. It is hard for me to understand how a pro can have this mindset.

It looks like you left out some words there
"I'm alright, I'm a bit shaken up but fine. I've had a lot worse," Thomas said to Eurosport later. "It's frustrating, I tried so hard to get over the climb, I don't know why some guys don't just sit where you are on the descent.What's the difference between fifth and third.Just get down the descent. Everyone knows it's a tough descent."