Teams & Riders Geraint Thomas

[Rob5091]

Smart move by G to get his mate Ganna with him in the break.

 

[samhocking]

I have a feeling G & Remco / Ineos & Quickstep with some mutual understanding could play off each other very well the next two weeks. If G can get to 1-2mins virtual GC with another raid while Jumbo play dead donkey again with Remco, at some point Jumbo have to switch games away from Remco.

 

[xo 1]

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

Agreed. To be clear, I wasn't suggesting that it was G's level of performance that would force him to retire. I was wondering if, riding for a potentially middling INEOS GC squad next year, would be enough fun to justify the sacrifice it takes to reach peak form.

 

[fmk_RoI]

I was wondering if, riding for a potentially middling INEOS GC squad next year, would be enough fun to justify the sacrifice it takes to reach peak form.

But G has had difficulty motivating himself for years now, even in the good old race-winning days.

 

[staubsauger]

Personality, if I was him I would retire. Thomas is 37. He has been 2nd @ the 2023 Giro d'Italia & 3rd @ the 2022 Tour de France. He's shown that his transformation into a gc contender probably was the most legit Sky one. His point is proven. Why would he risk to finish on a bad year instead?

IMHO it's not worth the private sacrifice and the risk to fail. If Ineos wants a legit GC contender they should've offered Tao Geoghegan Hart a better contract in spring to keep him on board as a captain for the Giro d'Italia or Vuelta a Espana at least. Independent from the Remco situation.

It's not Thomas fault Ineos has mis planned their roster.

 

[Rob5091]

At the moment G is Ineos's only hope of a GT winner or a podium spot more likely. As much as he complains about having to live like a monk for 6 months, he seems to still want to race. He could always do a good domestique job for Rodrigeuz, but something seems to be up in the air at Ineos so we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Netserk]

Who can stop him in the Giro next year?

 

[staubsauger]

Who can stop him in the Giro next year?

Ayuso?

 

[Red Rick]

Ayuso?

Much more likely Yates or Almeida are leading Giro while Ayuso gets 2nd lead sport at the Tour

 

[staubsauger]

Much more likely Yates or Almeida are leading Giro while Ayuso gets 2nd lead sport at the Tour

That sounds like Berzin & Ugrumov all over again!

 

[fmk_RoI]

Much more likely Yates or Almeida are leading Giro while Ayuso gets 2nd lead sport at the Tour

What stagiare will TJV have turned into a GC genius and given the second seat to at the Giro, behind Roglic?

 

[fmk_RoI]

26 minutes today, he's lulling them into a false sense of security so he can attack and win it all on an important stage. And he's within six minutes of evenepoel now! Go G!

 

[staubsauger]

What stagiare will TJV have turned into a GC genius and given the second seat to at the Giro, behind Roglic?

Staune-Mittet has already won the baby Giro d'Italia.

The beach boy looks more like a classics contender.

But so did Thomas.

 

[fmk_RoI]

Another half an hour lost today, that's gonna be one hell of a stage when he pulls all that back in a single breakaway.

He's not even phoning this one in, he's sending a text message to say he can't get to the phone.

 

[samhocking]

Lost? What makes you think his race is about time loss?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Lost? What makes you think his race is about time loss?

To be fair, Thomas is in his usual (since climber transformation) September form, it's just that in most seasons he's not got any kind of expectations on him by this point whereas here he's at least nominally coming as a GC rider. In a normal season, "G" being asked if he wants to go to Spain at the end of August means a dozen Estrellas by the pool in Benidorm.

 

[samhocking]

To be fair, Thomas is in his usual (since climber transformation) September form, it's just that in most seasons he's not got any kind of expectations on him by this point whereas here he's at least nominally coming as a GC rider. In a normal season, "G" being asked if he wants to go to Spain at the end of August means a dozen Estrellas by the pool in Benidorm.

Think it's difficult to say what his form was as the crashes and injury left has him out of the GC race physically and so mentally he's no longer racing GC so 'lost' time means nothing anyay. He had a go on a stage and it nearly came off, so I'd say he's taking it as easy as possible for another go on another stage.
But every rider is out the GC race other than Jumbo so maybe they need to not ease up for September like you think Thomas has?

 

[Red Rick]

I don't actually doubt Thomas had some form. His 10th in the Worlds ITT may not look like much, but it requires a decent bit of form. Then he goes to the Vuelta, crashes, and gets 20th in the much weaker Vuelta ITT where he finishes 2 minutes down again in half the duration.

 

[Peter von]

If G wants to do another, he should do another year. I think he’ll go back to only having one big peak.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Think it's difficult to say what his form was as the crashes and injury left has him out of the GC race physically and so mentally he's no longer racing GC so 'lost' time means nothing anyay. He had a go on a stage and it nearly came off, so I'd say he's taking it as easy as possible for another go on another stage.
But every rider is out the GC race other than Jumbo so maybe they need to not ease up for September like you think Thomas has?

Are we trying to pretend that Thomas doesn't have a history of barely racing post-Tour and, when he does, usually being atrocious? I was making a joke about that rather than making a serious comment about his form at the Vuelta. He's seldom raced anything hard from August 1st onward since the Olympics in 2012, and since he won the Tour in 2018 he made many a joke at his own expense about celebrating post-race with a few drinks and not being in form later in the season. In his career he's done the Vuelta once, in 2015, and he was utterly nondescript (with 12th in the ITT the only remotely noteworthy thing) then too, hence my joke about how he would interpret being asked to go to Spain in late August.

 

[Netserk]

How much did he crash before Arinsal?

 

[samhocking]

Are we trying to pretend that Thomas doesn't have a history of barely racing post-Tour and, when he does, usually being atrocious? I was making a joke about that rather than making a serious comment about his form at the Vuelta. He's seldom raced anything hard from August 1st onward since the Olympics in 2012, and since he won the Tour in 2018 he made many a joke at his own expense about celebrating post-race with a few drinks and not being in form later in the season. In his career he's done the Vuelta once, in 2015, and he was utterly nondescript (with 12th in the ITT the only remotely noteworthy thing) then too, hence my joke about how he would interpret being asked to go to Spain in late August.

I see no evidence he didn't prepare fully for La Vuelta like he does for Le Tour? Yes, obviously if any rider knows his season ends after Le Tour in terms of team objectives those riders are all switching off and relaxing but he didn't race Le Tour, he was 2nd in Giro. I don't think Ineos have called him up last minute for La vuelta have they? His main season objectives was Giro and build up again through Worlds for La Vuelta. If ther's anytihng Thomas is a master at it's getting fit for Grand Tours imo.

How much did he crash before Arinsal?

The crash giving him all the knee problems in first week was the one received on stage 2 with Roglic. Said he was in pain for stage 3 but then he crashed on it again stage 6 was it?

 

[SHAD0W93]

I see no evidence he didn't prepare fully for La Vuelta like he does for Le Tour? Yes, obviously if any rider knows his season ends after Le Tour in terms of team objectives those riders are all switching off and relaxing but he didn't race Le Tour, he was 2nd in Giro. I don't think Ineos have called him up last minute for La vuelta have they? His main season objectives was Giro and build up again through Worlds for La Vuelta. If ther's anytihng Thomas is a master at it's getting fit for Grand Tours imo.


The crash giving him all the knee problems in first week was the one received on stage 2 with Roglic. Said he was in pain for stage 3 but then he crashed on it again stage 6 was it?

Thomas’s big goal was the Giro while the Vuelta would always be a see how it goes. Or do you really think riding and finishing the second double of his career at 37 would go well?

 

[Netserk]

The crash giving him all the knee problems in first week was the one received on stage 2 with Roglic. Said he was in pain for stage 3 but then he crashed on it again stage 6 was it?

Ah, I had already forgotten that one. Yeah, hard to say then what condition he was in when he started here.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I see no evidence he didn't prepare fully for La Vuelta like he does for Le Tour? Yes, obviously if any rider knows his season ends after Le Tour in terms of team objectives those riders are all switching off and relaxing but he didn't race Le Tour, he was 2nd in Giro. I don't think Ineos have called him up last minute for La vuelta have they? His main season objectives was Giro and build up again through Worlds for La Vuelta. If ther's anytihng Thomas is a master at it's getting fit for Grand Tours imo.


The crash giving him all the knee problems in first week was the one received on stage 2 with Roglic. Said he was in pain for stage 3 but then he crashed on it again stage 6 was it?

FFS Sam, it's called a joke. We're not in the Clinic now, you don't have to leap into defence mode any time somebody says something mean about an Ineos rider here.