In Turin’s Parco San Valentino on Thursday night time, Geraint Thomas briefly discovered himself head to head with an previous heartache. Since shedding the pink jersey on the ultimate weekend of final yr’s Giro d’Italia, the Welshman had managed to keep away from watching footage of that fateful time trial.
Now, as he waited to mount the stage on the presentation of the 2024 race, he was confronted by pictures of Primož Roglič stomping up Monte Lussari by means of a sea of Slovenian flags to grab the maglia rosa from his grasp.
“It’s a bit bizarre seeing Roglič within the final TT, as a result of I’ve averted watching any of that and I’ve simply seen it now on the montage,” Thomas smiled within the combined zone. “But it’s good to be right here, I like this race and I’m trying ahead to it.”
Twelve months in the past, the Giro was finally distilled to a contest between Thomas and Roglič on a mountainside on the Italy-Slovenian border. This day trip, one other Slovenian, Tadej Pogačar, units out because the unbackable favorite for last victory, however Thomas has been on this sport lengthy sufficient to know that each conceivable impediment can interrupt a person’s path in a three-week race.
Last yr, in any case, the Giro was billed beforehand as a duel between Roglič and Remco Evenepoel, nevertheless it took on a special tone as soon as the Belgian was pressured out by sickness after dominating the opening week.
Thomas, by dint of pedigree if not essentially of type, seems to be the person almost definitely to problem Pogačar’s pre-eminence right here, even when the expectation is that he, like everyone else, shall be consigned to following at a distance. In an interview in Friday morning’s version of La Gazzetta dello Sport, nonetheless, Thomas struck a bullish tone below the headline: “I wouldn’t be on the Giro if Pogačar was unbeatable.”
The Welshman tends to assemble his Grand Tour challenges fastidiously, holding dangers to the naked minimal, and the strategy has stood him in good stead even in an period of more and more aggressive racing. At final yr’s Giro, like on the 2022 Tour, Thomas’s consistency throughout the three weeks carried him to a podium end, however he indicated a larger willingness to take dangers this day trip.
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“As lengthy because it’s the fitting time and place,” Thomas informed La Gazzetta. “I’m not saying I’m going to assault with 80k to go for the sake of it, it needs to be one thing that has an opportunity. We wish to race a bit extra aggressively as a workforce, and which means going for phases in addition to GC, however we gained’t be silly about it.”
Not unfinished enterprise
Although Thomas was compelled to dwell on Monte Lussari on Thursday night time, he downplayed the concept he nonetheless had unfinished enterprise with the Giro. The larger frustration, he defined, got here in 2017 and 2020, when crashes noticed his basic classification unravel earlier than it had actually begun. On the primary event, Thomas was caught up within the mass incident on the foot of the Blockhaus. Three years later, his Giro ended after a bidon bounced into his path firstly of stage 3 to Mount Etna.
“Going into final yr I felt I did [have unfinished business] as a result of I had crashed out twice earlier than after I was in fine condition,” Thomas stated. “But final yr, after I was nonetheless second after a stop-start preparation, I felt like I’d achieved one thing there. Primož gained that race final yr, it’s not that I misplaced it. The final TT he did was unbelievable.
“Of course, I’d like to win and switch it round from final yr, however I don’t really feel stress as a result of I’ve achieved one thing on the Giro. I nonetheless wish to win and clearly I’m nonetheless going to attempt to do every part I can. But perhaps having much less stress would possibly give me a bit extra of a bonus and make me much less conservative and perhaps attempt one thing totally different.”
On Friday morning, Ineos Grenadiers introduced that Thomas’ buddy and podcast co-host Luke Rowe would retire on the finish of this season. Thomas, for his half, has confirmed that he’ll race on into 2025, which is probably going – however nonetheless not sure – to be his last yr within the skilled peloton.
“At a sure level, you must cease and that might be the fitting second,” Thomas stated. “We’ll decide within the winter, nevertheless it needs to be the final one.”
Like final season, Thomas has adopted a intentionally low-key build-up to the Giro. At the Volta a Catalunya, he was content material to complete in additional than 18 minutes down on Pogačar, whereas he confirmed gradual indicators of progress on the Tour of Alps, a lot as he did in 2023. This season, thoughts, Thomas has miles to experience and guarantees to maintain past the Giro. Like Pogačar, he may also deal with the Tour, even when he was adamant that his present pondering leads solely to Rome.
“It was a barely slower begin this yr, I suppose, with the considered backing up with the Tour,” Thomas stated at Thursday night’s workforce presentation. “But I’ve been fascinated by attending to the Giro in the very best form potential and I haven’t been pondering additional forward than Rome, after which we’ll take care of the aftermath after that.”