Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) is back in action on Monday at the Tour of the Alps, the five days of mountain racing in Austria and northern Italy, providing his final stepping stone to the Giro d’Italia, with the Corsa Rosa likely to help him make a decision about racing on into 2024.
The Welshman turns 37 during the Giro d’Italia but appeared ready for what would be the 18th Grand Tour of his career at the Tour of the Alps team presentation.
His 2023 has been affected by a series of illnesses that needed antibiotics but he travelled to Austria for Monday’s first stage directly from an altitude camp at Sierra Nevada.
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“For me personally, the Tour of the Alps is just what I need: five hard days of racing,” he told the media at the Tour of the Alps, including Cyclingnews.
“I can freshen up afterwards and still have time to do some work. I think the Tour de Romandie is too close to the Giro mentality more than anything, It can mean a long time away from home.
“It was good to get racing again at Catalunya and then we were up at Sierra Nevada, which is a new one for me and so we trained on new roads. We had a good group, goods atmosphere. Now I’m looking forward to racing.”
Ineos Grenadiers have selected most of the Giro d’Italia squad for the Tour of the Alps, with Tao Geoghagan Hart, Thymen Arensman, Pavel Sivakov, Laurens De Plus, Salvatore Puccio and Ben Swift on the start list. They will be joined by Filippa Ganna for the Giro d’Italia, who will target the time trials, with Luke Rowe amongst the riders on a long list.
Directeur sportif Matteo Tosatto has indicated that Geoghagan Hart and Arensman are Ineos Grenadiers's GC riders for the Tour of the Alps, allowing Thomas to work on his form for later in May.
“For me it’s about getting some good racing in the legs and working hard,” Thomas confirmed.
“I’ll take some opportunities for sure if they come. Also up for helping the boys out and seeing what we can do as a team.”
Thomas opted to ride the Giro d’Italia in 2023 after seeing the very limited time trials and steep climbs in the Tour de France route. He twice finished the Giro d’Italia in his early career but crashed out in 2017 and 2020.
In 2017 a stationary police motorbike sparked a crash and left him battered and bruised, while in 2020, he was unfortunate to hit a rolling bidon on stage and fractured his pelvis.
Thomas won the Tour de France in 2018 and was third last year, proving his credentials as a Grand Tour contender. However he and Ineos Grenadiers face a battle with Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič at the 2023 Giro d’Italia.
“I’ve only been unlucky twice and hopefully it’s not three times,” he said.
“It’s just the way things go; there are ups and downs and certainly in my career, that’s what makes the ups even sweeter. Hopefully 2023 is a good year, that’s the plan.
“I've been on and off antibiotics and my health hasn’t been great since December. That stalled me a bit but I’ve done everything I can now. All I can do is keep working hard and get to the start line in the best shape I can, then go for there. With the way the last week of the Giro, we know that so much can happen there.”
Before starting his 2023 season at the Tour Down Under in Australia, Thomas said he would decide if he would race on in 2024 some time in the spring. Now any final decision has been pushed back until after the Giro d’Italia.
Thomas was initially relegated from a Grand Tour leadership role for 2022 but then saved Ineos Grenadiers' pride and proved his critics wrong by finishing third in the Tour de France behind Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). If thomas continues racing in 2024 it will be Ineos Grenadiers.
“I’ve been talking to the team. I’d quite like to carry on,” he revealed.
“It's one of those things: once we’ve sat and talked properly, I can sit down with my family and talk it through, and go from there. It’ll probably be after the Giro, so I can focus on getting into the best shape possible and enjoying the race. We’ll deal with my plans for the future after that.”
Thomas is part of an older generation being superseded by the new Pogačar-Evenepoel-Van der Poel–Van-Van Aert-Pidcock generation.
He is arguably defending the veteran generation better than others, seeing the good and bad aspects of racing now.
“I like the new style of racing, it’s aggressive and it starts early, and changes a lot. I’m not so keen on all the data,” he said, highlighting why the current generation are unlikely to race until they’re 37 like Thomas.
“I’m not one to sit there and look at all the different stuff, from nutrition to sleeping and even tyre pressure. I just get on the bike and ride. I think the young guys worry about those things a little too much,” Thomas said.
Thomas is still curious about his rivals. He watched Pogačar dominate the Amstel Gold Race before attending the team presentation in Alpbach, northeast of Innsbruck, describing the Slovenian as a phenomenon, but with his usual Welsh irony.
“Pogacar looked quite weak to me in the finale. ... He normally wins by two minutes,” Thomas joked.
“No, it’s incredible what he’s doing. You can only say ‘chapeau’. It was good to see our boys up there too, but yeah, he’s a phenomenon. There’s no other word."
