Geraint Thomas wants a do-over in the Giro d'Italia.
He might be up against two-time Tour de France winner and the world's number-one-ranked rider Tadej Pogačar this year, but at least he doesn't have a time trial that is "a silly stupid thing up a mountain this year".
In 2023, Thomas had a 26-second lead over Primož Roglič before the final time trial in the Giro d'Italia only to lose 40 seconds to his Slovenian rival on the 18.6km test up Monte Lussari. It was a bitter blow.
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In Ineos' pre-race press conference with Cyclingnews and other media, Thomas revealed that he struggled with a urinary tract infection for the first three months of 2023, while this year has been "a lot more straightforward".
So when he was asked if first place is gone because Pogačar is on the start line, Thomas disagreed.
"Of course, you don't think the first is gone - if anything, it takes pressure off because everyone expects him to win. They don't expect any of us to do anything," Thomas said. "It definitely makes the race different to last year. We're confident... the main thing was getting here in good shape and then you just do what you can.
"Obviously it's a massive task because he's a phenomenal bike rider - I've said recently probably one of the greatest ever - but we're relishing the challenge. They've got a strong team, but so do we and there are plenty of other good bike riders here as well. It's the Giro, I think a lot can go good and go bad as we all know. So yeah, we're excited."
The 2024 Giro d'Italia route is different from last year's also in that the first mountains come straight away, with the Colle della Maddalena on stage 1 with 20km to go and a summit finish on stage 2 at the Santuario di Oropa, and has two longer time trials - a 40.6km time trial on stage 7 ending on a smaller climb and a 31.2km test on stage 14 that is flat - all of which play into Thomas' strengths.
"Every Grand Tour is hard - I guess [the climbs] aren't as steep this year in general, which should suit me a bit better. I think we can try and take advantage [of the two long time trials], but obviously, Tadej's pretty good at them as well.
"I think you need to be good from start to finish... but I think it's kind of nice in a way - it settles the race down quite early on. Traditionally, the Tour, for instance, is big on long flat days for the first four or five days - it's chaos, really. So, if anything, it's nice to get a bit of tiredness in the peloton straightaway. The thing with the Giro is you gotta be strong at the end. Obviously, stage 2 is important, but it's not the be-all and end-all."
American Magnus Sheffield will be making his Grand Tour debut in the Giro d'Italia. After finishing second to Remco Evenpoel in the time trial during the Volta ao Algarve in February, he is looking to both go for a result in the two time trials but also to use the team's relative strength in those stages to help Ineos' leaders.
"I come here with quite a lot of ambition to support our leaders in G and Thymen [Arensman] but also to try really performing the time trials, and again, if there's an opportunity to try to go for a stage, I think this is also a big ambition of mine," he said.
"Our team is really strong in the time trials. So I think I see it more as an advantage than anything," he said of having Filippo Ganna, Thomas and former time trial world champion Tobias Foss on the squad for the Giro.
"We can share information, we can try different equipment, and we can try different pacing strategies. There's quite a lot that we can do. So it takes it from being a pure individual event, and that's quite nice because it really shows the importance of the team and your teammates around you."
The Giro d'Italia begins on Saturday.
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Ineos Grenadiers for the 2024 Giro d'Italia:
- Geraint Thomas
- Thymen Arensman
- Tobias Foss
- Filippo Ganna
- Jhonatan Narvaez
- Magnus Sheffield
- Ben Swift
- Connor Swift
