Teams & Riders Geraint Thomas

[Rechtschreibfehler]

He did attack Roglic. Almeida was up front, but the intention was not to follow him, but to attack Roglic. He noticed that Roglic is not that good, and that Kuss pacing is more not to hurt Roglic, then to close Almeida. And he attacked, not to follow, but to make difference, which he did. He hit the front immidiatelly, and out of 3-4 km's he was on the front at least 80% of time.

I disagree or better I am not convinced. Back on that Stage Almeida was only 22 seconds behind Thomas, so basically letting Almeide go would put his lead into risk. So in my book he is still brideging, it's only made out to be an attack because the entire race was so damn defensive and people are looking for something, where Thomas took the initiative.

Overall I think it was sensible to ride the way Thomas did to get on the podium, but I think they should have tried to isolate Roglic more on his weaker days at least. Suffocating the race, which is the normal Ineos tactic, doesn't work if you are not comfertably in the lead.

I think Thomas could have won the Giro with a more courages approach, but of course also lost it more convincingly.

 

[Miha81]

Great ride by Thomas. Gave it all he had. Such a good interview after race. At 37 yrs old exceptional performance. I don't get into the second guessing of the tactics but I think he rode the race measuring his strengths.

With interview after stage 20 and close out interview he made another fan. He seems such a good bloke. I almost felt guilty to be rooting for Rogla on 2023 Giro.

 

[Rob5091]

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...-finish-half-a-beer-in-post-giro-celebrations
“I am a broken man to be honest. It's not that we had a crazy night, but the body just says stop," he explains. "I could only finish half a beer because my stomach was so turned upside down from all the gels in the last week of the Giro.”
How many gels did he have and does that explain the MTT meltdown?

 

[Red Rick]

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...-finish-half-a-beer-in-post-giro-celebrations
“I am a broken man to be honest. It's not that we had a crazy night, but the body just says stop," he explains. "I could only finish half a beer because my stomach was so turned upside down from all the gels in the last week of the Giro.”
How many gels did he have and does that explain the MTT meltdown?

Shouldn't explain a meltdown during a 45 minute MTT considering you should be fueled enough for that duration before. It's not like riders eat during 1 hour TTs or an hour record.

Only thing I can imagine is if digestive issues *** with fluid balance.

 

[StryderHells]

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...-finish-half-a-beer-in-post-giro-celebrations
“I am a broken man to be honest. It's not that we had a crazy night, but the body just says stop," he explains. "I could only finish half a beer because my stomach was so turned upside down from all the gels in the last week of the Giro.”
How many gels did he have and does that explain the MTT meltdown?

He didn’t meltdown, he’s 37 and in the end finished 2nd on the stage, he beat Almeida by 2 seconds on that stage, why aren’t people talking about Almedias meltdown? I’m not a Thomas fan but he rode well right through this Giro and was just beaten by a better rider.

 

[Rob5091]

"I could feel my legs going with a K and a half, don’t want to make excuses, I just didn’t feel like I had that grunt."
“It’s still frustrating, I think just because of the way I rode it, with the wheels falling off a bit in the last 3 or 4k."
Thomas was only 2 seconds down on Roglic at the base of the climb, so something happened going up the climb. Maybe just 3 weeks racing catching up with him or an Ineos reprise of last year's Giro when Carapaz blew up when he looked like winning - snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

 

[Panda Claws]

"I could feel my legs going with a K and a half, don’t want to make excuses, I just didn’t feel like I had that grunt."
“It’s still frustrating, I think just because of the way I rode it, with the wheels falling off a bit in the last 3 or 4k."
Thomas was only 2 seconds down on Roglic at the base of the climb, so something happened going up the climb. Maybe just 3 weeks racing catching up with him or an Ineos reprise of last year's Giro when Carapaz blew up when he looked like winning - snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

Going up on a Mountain in a TT =/= flat part on TT bike

 

[Red Rick]

"I could feel my legs going with a K and a half, don’t want to make excuses, I just didn’t feel like I had that grunt."
“It’s still frustrating, I think just because of the way I rode it, with the wheels falling off a bit in the last 3 or 4k."
Thomas was only 2 seconds down on Roglic at the base of the climb, so something happened going up the climb. Maybe just 3 weeks racing catching up with him or an Ineos reprise of last year's Giro when Carapaz blew up when he looked like winning - snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

What happened is Roglic was going up the climb faster, leading to Thomas pushing too hard and not being able to sustain the same W/kg the entire climb.

#	START*	RIDER	T1	#	KM/H		T1-T2	#	KM/H		T2-T3	#	KM/H		T3-T4	#	KM/H
1	17:11:00	ROGLIČ Primož	13.49	1	46.900		20.14	2	13.344		8.17	1	18.109		2.03	1	23.415
2	17:14:00	THOMAS Geraint	13.51	2	46.787		20.28	3	13.192		8.30	5	17.647		2.14	15	21.493
3	17:08:00	ALMEIDA João	13.53	3	46.675		20.42	6	13.043		8.25	3	17.822		2.05	2	23.040
4	17:05:00	CARUSO Damiano	13.56	4	46.507		20.39	5	13.075		8.36	6	17.442		2.07	5	22.677
5	16:59:00	PINOT Thibaut	14.07	8	45.903		20.45	8	13.012		8.24	2	17.857		2.06	3	22.857
6	16:32:00	KUSS Sepp	14.27	18	44.844		20.08	1	13.411		8.43	9	17.208		2.10	7	22.154
7	16:14:00	MCNULTY Brandon	14.06	7	45.957		20.47	9	12.991		8.27	4	17.751		2.10	8	22.154
8	16:56:00	ARENSMAN Thymen	14.11	12	45.687		20.42	7	13.043		8.36	7	17.442		2.12	13	21.818
9	16:50:00	LEKNESSUND Andreas	14.13	13	45.580		21.00	10	12.857		8.44	10	17.176		2.15	20	21.333
10	16:09:00	VINE Jay	14.00	5	46.286		21.17	14	12.686		8.45	11	17.143		2.14	17	21.493

Thomas was 3rd fastest on the T1-T2 split, 14s slower than Roglic and 20s slower than Kuss. He was then 5th fastest on the T2-T3 split, which is where he already started suffering in the final minutes of that split. He was then 15th fastest in the final T3-T4 split but that's only 2 minutes.

But what should be paid attention to is that in the T2-T3 split, where Roglic had his mechanical and lost 15 seconds or so - he was still the fastest. This means Roglic, unlike nearly everyone else, did a negative split on the climb and was obliterating everyone in the final 10 minute section.

Pacing mattered a lot. The final top 5 correlates the least strongly with the T1-T2 split, which is actually the longest split and the hardest part of the climb. That means is that the end result really favored riders who didn't give everything in the first 20 minutes of the climb and left something in the tank for the final 10 minutes.

Finally, Thomas wasted a chunk of time during his bike change, making his T1 split look slower than how hard he was actually pushing even in the first split.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Shouldn't explain a meltdown during a 45 minute MTT considering you should be fueled enough for that duration before. It's not like riders eat during 1 hour TTs or an hour record.

Only thing I can imagine is if digestive issues *** with fluid balance.

If he really had too many gels he'd have pulled a Dumoulin on the Tre Cime stage.
Seriously,I can't imagine the great marginal gains team to mess up basic cycling nutrition 101 that badly.

 

[Red Rick]

If he really had too many gels he'd have pulled a Dumoulin on the Tre Cime stage.
Seriously,I can't imagine the great marginal gains team to mess up basic cycling nutrition 101 that badly.

I just think he started to really notice after the Giro when he started eating actual food again.

 

[CyclistAbi]

If Thomas would be pushing harder during the race. Then Roglič likely would gain more bonus seconds. As for stage 20. This is the terrain Roglič excels on. The hardest possible terrain. Thomas in my opinion didn't crack or anything like that. It's just that such terrain is less suitable for him in general. And as it favors Roglič, he could make the most difference. For example PL was still complaining about this final time trial. Long after Remco has left the race. You can only imagine of why.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I just think he started to really notice after the Giro when he started eating actual food again.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure all riders notice it after a GT, even though they've improved the gels over the years.

 

[Rob5091]

If he really had too many gels he'd have pulled a Dumoulin on the Tre Cime stage.
Seriously,I can't imagine the great marginal gains team to mess up basic cycling nutrition 101 that badly.

Remember that the great marginal gains team let Thomas ride a ITT with his gilet on ...
Edit - I did read somewhere that Thomas thought even if he changed tactics/pacing he still would not have finished quicker, which sounds to me like he was just plain pooped.

 

[Rob5091]

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...s-and-vuelta-a-espana-as-big-goals-for-summer

G off to the Vuelta - man, is he going to feel old!

 

[fmk_RoI]

Well, now we know what'll replace The Giro According to G in this year's Xmas Stockings

https://twitter.com/x/status/1675559436427902976

View: https://twitter.com/fmk_RoI/status/1675559436427902976

 

[Rob5091]

G thinking already of his post retirement employment?

 

[Izzyeviel]

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Training camps going well.

 

[IndianCyclist]

At this point, it is not going well in the GC. Had a couple of crashes, mechanicals, so unlikely to be in good form. Maybe he should quit and prepare for the next season after all this aint the TDF.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

On that Sky TV documentary / love-in series last year, Thomas said he expected to be a Tour contender within a couple of years (or something along those lines). A few years ago that would have been a joke but nowadays I wouldn't be surprised if Eisel did the cobbles double and Zandio won the Vuelta

He said he wanted to be a contender for the GTs in several interviews.

Some posts from the start of this thread, I just found it interesting that Thomas wanted to be a GC rider all along.

 

[xo 1]

At this point, it is not going well in the GC. Had a couple of crashes, mechanicals, so unlikely to be in good form. Maybe he should quit and prepare for the next season after all this aint the TDF.

He has certainly had a full run of ill luck, but I don't see the benefit of dropping out to prepare for next season. He'll have plenty of time to prepare after the Vuelta. That said, the race has gone so poorly, I have wondered if Geraint is asking himself if he shouldn't hang up his cleats. Unless there is a big surprise transfer, next year may not be much fun on the GTs for INEOS.

 

[fmk_RoI]

I have wondered if Geraint is asking himself if he shouldn't hang up his cleats.

Not until he's given us The Giro According to G...

 

[Bolder]

He has certainly had a full run of ill luck, but I don't see the benefit of dropping out to prepare for next season. He'll have plenty of time to prepare after the Vuelta. That said, the race has gone so poorly, I have wondered if Geraint is asking himself if he shouldn't hang up his cleats. Unless there is a big surprise transfer, next year may not be much fun on the GTs for INEOS.

Time does catch up to all of us. But one bad race doesn't mean he has to retire. Just ask Froome...

 

[tobydawq]

He has certainly had a full run of ill luck, but I don't see the benefit of dropping out to prepare for next season. He'll have plenty of time to prepare after the Vuelta. That said, the race has gone so poorly, I have wondered if Geraint is asking himself if he shouldn't hang up his cleats. Unless there is a big surprise transfer, next year may not be much fun on the GTs for INEOS.

He was 14 seconds from winning a Grand Tour 3 months ago. Maybe that would be a bit drastic.

Though, the wheels can fall off quite quickly. Just ask Nadal after having won both the Australian Open and Roland Garros last year.

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

He's never really done much in the 2nd half of the season. Mechanicals and crashes apart, I didn't really expect that to change now.

 

[tobydawq]

In the end, his presence in the race might be vital for the outcome, however.

If he hadn't been here, Ineos probably would not have helped Soudal on stage 6, and then Kuss and Soler would likely have 4 minutes advantage now.