Geraint Thomas may have spent the first rest day of the Tour de France some 72 seconds off the yellow jersey, but he and Team Ineos admitted things could not have gone much better for them in the opening 10 days.
The crosswind chaos of Monday's stage 10 saw Thomas power his way into second place on the general classification behind Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, with the Welshman's young teammate Egan Bernal just four seconds behind in third.
Tightening: Britain's Geraint Thomas (right) and overall Tour de France leader Julian Alaphillpe of France.Credit:L'Equipe
After a number of rivals – most notably Groupama-FDJ's Thibaut Pinot – shipped 100 seconds on the stage to Albi, Thomas and Bernal became the best placed of the main contenders to be wearing yellow in Paris.
"With myself and Egan second and third, it's been a great 10 days," the defending champion said.
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"Obviously it would be better if we were a couple of seconds behind Alaphilippe rather than a minute, but other than that it's great."
It is not a dissimilar situation to the first rest day of last year, when Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet held yellow with a 43-second cushion over Thomas in second.
Van Avermaet was never expected to hold yellow for long in the mountains, duly handing it over when Thomas won stage 11 to La Rosiere, and many predict Alaphilippe will do something similar when the race hits the Pyrenees at the weekend.
Though he has thrilled the French crowds with his attacking style, the 27-year-old is not targeting the general classification over the three weeks and cannot be expectRead More – Source
Geraint Thomas may have spent the first rest day of the Tour de France some 72 seconds off the yellow jersey, but he and Team Ineos admitted things could not have gone much better for them in the opening 10 days.
The crosswind chaos of Monday's stage 10 saw Thomas power his way into second place on the general classification behind Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, with the Welshman's young teammate Egan Bernal just four seconds behind in third.
Tightening: Britain's Geraint Thomas (right) and overall Tour de France leader Julian Alaphillpe of France.Credit:L'Equipe
After a number of rivals – most notably Groupama-FDJ's Thibaut Pinot – shipped 100 seconds on the stage to Albi, Thomas and Bernal became the best placed of the main contenders to be wearing yellow in Paris.
"With myself and Egan second and third, it's been a great 10 days," the defending champion said.
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"Obviously it would be better if we were a couple of seconds behind Alaphilippe rather than a minute, but other than that it's great."
It is not a dissimilar situation to the first rest day of last year, when Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet held yellow with a 43-second cushion over Thomas in second.
Van Avermaet was never expected to hold yellow for long in the mountains, duly handing it over when Thomas won stage 11 to La Rosiere, and many predict Alaphilippe will do something similar when the race hits the Pyrenees at the weekend.
Though he has thrilled the French crowds with his attacking style, the 27-year-old is not targeting the general classification over the three weeks and cannot be expectRead More – Source
