Cycling Weekly

Is there a classier rider in the pro peloton than Geraint Thomas? The magnanimous way he coped with losing the Giro d’Italia on the penultimate stage singles him out as a wonderful role model. And his massive, 600 metre turn to help out his old British Cycling team-mate Mark Cavendish in the closing moments of the final stage shows what a great person he is. It’s hard to believe that at the end of the 2021 season his Ineos team thought his days of challenging for a Grand Tour were over. Since then he has finished third at the Tour de France and second at the Giro – comfortably the team’s best Grand Tour rider. All of which begs the question, what now? There was talk of him retiring at the end…

It is, as they say, the hope that kills you. For Geraint Thomas to get so close to winning the Giro d’Italia – 48 hours, in fact – and still lose, was gutting for the Welshman. On Friday evening the Ineos Grenadiers rider was 26 seconds up on Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), and sitting atop the general classification on stage 19. Just 24 hours later, after an incredibly difficult mountain time trial, the positions were flipped, with Roglič gaining 40 seconds on his Welsh rival, and thus winning the Giro d’Italia, his fourth Grand Tour title, while Thomas had to settle for his second runner-up spot over three weeks. “We can be content, but we want to win at this team, so it’s a bit hard” Roglič and Thomas were even on time on the…

Nothing showed the true spirit of Geraint Thomas at this Giro d’Italia more than his performance on stage 21, where the Ineos Grenadiers rider helped lead out Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) to victory in Rome. With 2km to go, Thomas moved to the front of the bunch, after noticing that Cavendish had just one team-mate, Luis León Sanchez, left. Cavendish had not yet won a race in 2023, let alone a stage at the Giro, but had not looked short of speed, just lacking in positioning. “THEY CONTINUE TO BE AT THE TOP OF THE SPORT” That turn from Thomas did not win the stage for Cavendish, his 17th Giro stage win in a storied, starry career – that was Cavendish’s final turn of speed which saw him power to victory by several bike…

REST DAY BITTEN BY THE BUG On the first rest day, although I didn’t dare say it, I was wondering why we needed them. I really got myself into the rhythm and wasn’t really getting more tired. It was a rather different story this time! Yesterday, I finally got the symptoms of a stomach bug that’s afflicted a few other guys in the peloton and it was horrible. Last night I hardly moved or talked, no more than necessary for massage and saying “sì” for pasta. Luckily, I had today to recover before the big-mountain days and it seems to have done the trick! I also managed to sneak in a little bit of economics revision and help organise for my girlfriend Louise to come to Rome on Sunday. STAGE 16 LONG AND GRINDING…

Ben Swift has raced nine Grand Tours, so is no novice to the difficulty of 21-day racing. However, this year’s Giro d’Italia has been one of the toughest the Yorkshireman has ever raced. Asked if it’s the hardest, the Ineos rider said: “In terms of weather conditions, yes. It has been a bit of a strange race – we were waiting for it to kick off. It was a bit of a slow burn. The final week was hard.” Over the first fortnight of the race, days with rain were much more common than days without. Flooding was such in the north of Italy that the Emilia Romagna F1 GP was cancelled. And in all this, a bike race carried on. “It’s been pretty wet, but I’m from the UK so it’s not…

Lizzie Deignan was pleased to be back at the sharp end of racing at last weekend’s Ford RideLondon Classique, where she finished third, just one month after returning from maternity leave. The three-day WorldTour event, which was won by Team DSM’s Charlotte Kool, saw the Brit return to the fore at Trek-Segafredo, following the withdrawal of the team’s sprinter, Elisa Balsamo, who crashed twice on the opening stage. “I’m really happy with my progress,” Deignan told Cycling Weekly, clutching her podium flowers on London’s The Mall. “On paper, this race doesn’t suit me, but I was able to have an impact.” The former world champion entered the final day in second in the overall standings, but ended up conceding a place to Canyon-SRAM’s Chloé Dygert, who rode aggressively to collect bonus seconds. “It…