Recently retired Ineos Grenadiers racer Geraint Thomas has said that "it wasn't great, the way the team dealt with" the situation surrounding David Rozman, the soigneur who was forced to leave the Tour de France amid an International Testing Agency (ITA) investigation over his links with a doctor at the centre of the Operation Aderlass doping case.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian, the 39-year-old was questioned about the various controversies which have dogged Sky/Ineos over the years, the latest of which was the Rozman investigation.
The Slovenian soigneur, who had worked at the team since 2011 and was also part of the British Cycling team at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, was called in for an interview with the ITA in July after he was named as an alleged connection to Mark Schmidt, the German physician at the centre of Operation Aderlass.
This came out just prior to the Tour de France, and saw the team and riders questioned about the topic throughout the race.
"It wasn't great, the way the team dealt with it. But it's a tough one if you get a doctor that's been in cycling for a while. I'm not saying they're all dodgy, by any means, but if someone's been in the sport 15 years, the possibility of them having some sort of link [to doping – Ed.] is pretty high," Thomas said.
"It's been tough, all these things happening over the years with the team. But, as a rider, all you can do is worry about yourself and the next race.
"I wasn't surprised that he knew some doctor that ended up being a bit suspect. But just because you know someone doesn't mean you're guilty. I was surprised at how quickly it blew up and the bad press he was getting."
Thomas went on to suggest that the investigation could have been conducted away from the glare of the media, noting that similar investigations at other teams would also throw up individuals with links to doping.
"I think it could have been looked at without it all coming out. I think if you looked at other teams as intensely, then there will be lots of questions about them. It shows we're held to a different standard than a lot of other teams."
As part of a look back at his long cycling career, which came to an end at the Tour of Britain last month, Thomas also said he was grateful to have avoided joining a team such as Saunier Duval – where he rode as a stagiaire in 2007 – or Phonak as a young rider.
Thomas was lucky to have joined Barloworld and Sky rather than those teams, which were infamous for a variety of doping scandals, he said.
"Had I joined Saunier Duval or Phonak, I might have seen a whole other world. How would I have reacted, as a young man surrounded by the powerful and habitual? I'm fortunate I never had to find out," he said.
"I was lucky I didn't go into that team and was never put in that position. Sky came in, and the whole British Cycling mentality was my safety net."
He says that modern cycling is as clean as it's ever been, though he admitted that he's tired of the doping talk that still dogs the sport.
"It's easy for me to say: 'Well, if I can win the Tour clean, then anyone can' – but for me it taints the present that we still have to speak about doping a lot. At the same time, [the scrutiny] really helped clean up the sport. I think there is a hell of a lot more testing in cycling than other sports," Thomas said.
Thomas can look back on a career which saw him win the Tour as well as a host of other WorldTour stage races and two Olympic gold medals on the track.
He admitted that missing out on the 2023 Giro d'Italia victory to Primož Roglič in a stage 20 time trial turnaround was "definitely tough and the one that got away", but looks back on his 2024 Giro podium as an achievement comparable to his Tour victory.
"I was super-proud of that. Obviously, a pretty special guy in Tadej Pogačar won the race. So it was almost like a race for second. Dani Martínez pipped me, but to be on the podium at 38 made me just as proud as winning the Tour," he said.
Now, Thomas will be looking ahead to an off-the-bike role with Ineos Grenadiers, though the contract on his post-racing role hasn't yet been signed. He's set to work for the team as a sort of "go-between between senior management" and the coaches of the British squad, he said.
"It will be looking at their goals and how they're going to execute them. So it's a role where I'll work alongside the coaches and the directeurs sportifs and be that go-between between senior management and the riders – with the goal of stepping up myself in years to come," he said.
"I've got lots of knowledge and experience when it comes to racing, but there will be a lot of learning for me from Dave [Brailsford] as well.
"We still need to dot the i's and cross the t's, so nothing's definitely done or official yet. But I think I can help them out a lot going forward, so that's exciting.
