Ineos rider wants to 'get away from the cycling world' after mentally and physically bruising few weeks
Geraint Thomas placed 12th in the Olympic time trial(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Geraint Thomas says he has contract offers from multiple teams and will "listen to everyone" as he turns his attentions to his future following a bruising five weeks.
The Welshman dislocated his shoulder on stage 3 of the Tour de France and struggled to Paris before heading on to Tokyo for the Olympics, where he crashed again in Saturday’s road race.
Despite holding out for a turnaround in Wednesday’s time trial that never materialised, he placed 12th before voicing his desire to "get away from the cycling world".
That said, Thomas is scheduled to ride the Tour de Pologne, which starts on August 9, while there’s also the more pressing matter of contract negotiations.
Thomas is coming to the end of his current deal at Ineos Grenadiers and, as Cyclingnews reported this week, will not be offered an extension on the same terms.
"I have a few offers but I’m just waiting to speak to one other person," Thomas said after his time trial ride.
"We’ll try and get that resolved quickly because it’s starting to play on your mind, you just want to get that sorted, but we’ll see."
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Thomas has ridden for the British team since their inception in 2010, signing his current three-year deal in the aftermath of his Tour de France victory in 2018.
"I’m just open to listen to everyone,” Thomas said. “Once we’ve got everything on the table, we’ll go from there.”
Thomas sounded like a rider in need of a break after the time trial. He can rival the world’s best on his day, especially on a hilly course, but he was far from his own best after the bumps and bruises of the past few weeks.
He was off the medal pace from an early stage and faded on the main climb on the second lap of the course, where he was overtaken by Rohan Dennis, who’d started 90 seconds behind him.
“I tried to start at a pace that I thought would be there or thereabouts for a medal, but I heard I was 50 seconds down on Roglič, which wasn’t great for morale. Then I just had a real bad patch on the climb on the second lap. I really fell off the watts, just lost momentum and concentration, then Rohan caught me and that wasn’t good for the head either,” he said.
“But that did refocus me a bit and gave me something to chase. That’s the difference between the pure specialists. They can sort of stay on it and just deal with that, whereas I needed someone to chase almost. I’ve got to be… I wouldn’t say happy, but content with that, I guess.”
Thomas’ shape had been compromised by the crashes he suffered at the Tour and in Japan at the weekend, but he said the psychological blows were more significant as he watched his season’s main targets go up in smoke.
“It’s mental as much as physical - probably more mental. It’s been so hard. It was a good year up to then, with third in Catalunya and Dauphiné with teammates winning, then the win at Romandie. It was a great build-up to the Tour, but I popped my shoulder out and from there it’s just been horrible," he said.
“It’s been a super hard five weeks. It just seems to be one thing after the next, but I just tried to stay positive and stay on it, to keep putting your hat in the ring and not be scared of failing.
"It’s just been tough, especially mentally. People like to stick in the knife in a bit when things aren’t quite going your way, but you just need to stay positive and try and keep going. It’s been tough but I’m looking forward to getting away from the cycling world now."
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Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.
