Teams & Riders Geraint Thomas

[Singer01]

Re: Re:

Re, Innsbruck RR. Considering he has just won the Tour as the strongest climber with the best finish, and his decent one day pedigree, he would logically be among the favorites IF he can peak again. It’s quite far away though...

Yeah, strong climber, decent sprint, some idea of how to do one-day racing. He's pretty much the prototype for a course like this.

Nibali (health permitting), Valverde (form permitting), Martin, Wellens, Alaphilippe, maybe Van Avermaet -- it's an interesting field. An open race for once -- i.e. one where Sagan almost certainly can't win.

Nearly 5,000 metres of climbing, its a big ask.

 

[del1962]

2013 was his most impressive result though as he rode it with a broken pelvis

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

Re, Innsbruck RR. Considering he has just won the Tour as the strongest climber with the best finish, and his decent one day pedigree, he would logically be among the favorites IF he can peak again. It’s quite far away though...

Yeah, strong climber, decent sprint, some idea of how to do one-day racing. He's pretty much the prototype for a course like this.

Nibali (health permitting), Valverde (form permitting), Martin, Wellens, Alaphilippe, maybe Van Avermaet -- it's an interesting field. An open race for once -- i.e. one where Sagan almost certainly can't win.

Nearly 5,000 metres of climbing, its a big ask.

As big as the last Olympic Road Race, some might say.

 

[Brullnux]

Different, though. Much more intense, repeated climbing here without the classics specialists' initial bit. And it's very unlikely GvA can go up that final climb after 250km with lighter guys. Rio was three long climbs, is 7 slightly easier climbs then the beast at the end

 

[del1962]

we are in the wrong thread but GVA was in break over flat cobbles in rio, more his terrain

 

[movingtarget]

Most of the time he was a domestique like Porte. He rode the Giro as team leader but crashed out. Porte has obviously spent more time as a team leader but they both spent a long time riding for others so GC results in those years are pretty much irrelevant.

 

[Bardamu]

Re: Re:

Was it in 2015 or 2016 that he rode in 4th place until a crash because of Barguil and that he lost 20+ minutes some days later? He already looked very strong that Tour.

He was 4th, helped a lot by a very anomalous day and then crashes from certain favourites. He was actually 6th when the crash happened, but moved up the next day after Bertie and TJ crashed. He lost time not as a result of the crash, which he was unharmed by, but totally running out of steam in the last few days. Still quite a big step up, though, from that to winning the Tour.

[quote="dastott":asnt4v9y]Haven't seen winners' interviews like that before. Respect.

I wonder what next for G in 2018? Target World's in RR and/or TT? He would be among the favorites for either.

Yeah, he won so many races of similar type..

Well, until two years ago he was considered a classics specialist, and he has done very well in a lot of one day races. Him winning the Worlds is a lot, and I mean a lot, more likely than him winning the Tour. And now he's won a Tour.[/quote] He did win Paris-Nice and Dauphiné and was becoming a better mountain domestique every year.

Only Belgians considered him a classics specialist, because he has always been much more all-round. Riding good on the cobbles doesn't pigeonhole a rider as a classics specialist.

 

[ToreBear]

Gratz to G! With all his bad luck it was his time to have some good luck.

 

[del1962]

Interesting to see what his schedule is for rest of season

Don't think he will do Vuelta

TOB most likely then worlds, I would like him to do Lombardia but don't think he will

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Haven't seen winners' interviews like that before. Respect.

I wonder what next for G in 2018? Target World's in RR and/or TT? He would be among the favorites for either.

Yeah, he won so many races of similar type..

He never won a 3 week grand tour before either.

So, you're working along the lines of "He's never done that before, so why not?"

 

[Poursuivant]

Class victory speech

 

[Lequack]

Can you imagine Froome dropping the mic?

 

[oldcrank]

I wonder someone packed SuperG's dragon onesie for the flight home.

 

[del1962]

He hasn't signed a new contract yet

 

[movingtarget]

Might be a little salary increase on the way for Thomas if Sky want to retain him. He's in a good position to negotiate anyway.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Would SKY offer him more money than he's already on? They could offer him another contract on the same money, or offer him leader in the Giro and Co-leader in the Tour if the Giro went pear shaped. It depends on what his goals are for next year. If he wants to win another GT he's gonna need a good team around him and I don't think he would get that elsewhere if he demanded a higher salary than at SKY. Plus it depends on what Froome wants to target next year, no doubt all in on number 5.

 

[movingtarget]

Would SKY offer him more money than he's already on? They could offer him another contract on the same money, or offer him leader in the Giro and Co-leader in the Tour if the Giro went pear shaped. It depends on what his goals are for next year. If he wants to win another GT he's gonna need a good team around him and I don't think he would get that elsewhere if he demanded a higher salary than at SKY. Plus it depends on what Froome wants to target next year, no doubt all in on number 5.

I think a Tour winner would have to expect some increase. Monument winners usually get a salary upgrade.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Might be a little salary increase on the way for Thomas if Sky want to retain him. He's in a good position to negotiate anyway.

Rumour in the Tour was that he extended before the Tour

 

[Lequack]

He got (well Sky did) 500k EUR for the overall win. That puts Sky at the top of the earning by far this Tour:
Team Sky €728,630
Sunweb €245,280
LottoNL-Jumbo €190,980
Quick-Step Floors €145,070
Bora-Hansgrohe €125,900
...
EF Education First Drapac €14,420

Source: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/how-much-money-riders-win-tour-de-france-254417

 

[del1962]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/wales/44990016

Garath Bale and Sam Warburton (Rugby Star) all from same school as G

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

Might be a little salary increase on the way for Thomas if Sky want to retain him. He's in a good position to negotiate anyway.

Rumour in the Tour was that he extended before the Tour

Apparently he didn't sign anything before the Tour. Good for him.

 

[masking_agent]

If he wants to stay competitive in GT's then he'll stay with Sky. If he wants a bit more money then I don't know what team can afford to surpass a Sky offer ? I think he looks at options but stays put. It would be disastrous for him if he left Sky. No other team has the ability to train it up mountains.

 

[InterestedSpectator]

Re:

If he wants to stay competitive in GT's then he'll stay with Sky. If he wants a bit more money then I don't know what team can afford to surpass a Sky offer ? I think he looks at options but stays put. It would be disastrous for him if he left Sky. No other team has the ability to train it up mountains.

I see it that way too. Let's be clear. If Froome (and Dumoulin) had not had Giro legs, Geraint would not have seen either of them for dust, especially Froome. It takes nothing away from Thomas' victory, as it is a choice whether one tries to do the Giro and Tour. GT had a comparatively 'easy' time on the Dauphine in comparison to the three weeks on the Giro. No not that easy, but if you watched it, you could see that he was fresh at the end. Well done, anyway.

 

[Salvarani]

He won because he pretty much had the perfect race and the strongest team.

No crash or mechanical. Could stay with the best and follow wheels of others. Never had to been in a position to really chase, could always count on someone else. Grabbed bonus seconds in the finishes with having the best sprint and probably a little more energy left in the tank.

Could he be a winner on another team tho... Im not so sure

 

[rlntlssly]

Re:

He won because he pretty much had the perfect race and the strongest team.

No crash or mechanical. Could stay with the best and follow wheels of others. Never had to been in a position to really chase, could always count on someone else. Grabbed bonus seconds in the finishes with having the best sprint and probably a little more energy left in the tank.

Could he be a winner on another team tho... Im not so sure

The thing is, we don't know. Could he have won a Tour where he was challenged more? Maybe. Most people thought he couldn't win this Tour, after all.