Cycling, Geraint Thomas: "Complicated start to the season. The Tour? The most beautiful race"

Rome, 6 February 2025 - What started a few weeks ago It will be his last season on the road and the first sensations do not seem to be those that could act as a prelude to a closing with a bang, but Geraint Thomas, as per his character, tries to analyze the complicated period underway.

Thomas' statements

 The opportunity for an in-depth examination is offered by CyclingNews. "The last few weeks have been good training, but showing up to the races in less than optimal conditions was not the best. I had stomach problems and a few fevers before the Tower Down Under and so in those days I struggled. I still struggle and, in general, these were not the results I was hoping to obtain". If this is the bad news, to be relegated to the away game in Australia now behind us, the good news is that there is still a long season ahead which will see the Welshman perform in that Tour de France won in 2018. "I would have liked to go back to the Giro d'Italia, But the Great Boucle last year made me realize even more how much it is on another level. Sometimes we forget, but it is simply the most beautiful race in the world and it is always nice to return to. I will certainly not care about the general classification. The goal will be to show up in the best possible physical condition and try to win a stage, as well as giving a hand to the person who will be the captain. I must say that at the beginning I struggled to accept the idea of ​​going there just to try to bring home a stage: it was as if my participation lost value. But now I feel charged and motivated".

Bennett's statements

 He also feels the same feelings Sam Bennett, someone who has instead dedicated an entire career to chasing stages and who he is now trying to relaunch. "As strange as it may seem to say at this point in my career, last year was a period full of discoveries for me and many new things I learned. I arrived in a new environment, that of Decathlon AG2R The World Team, and I had to adapt to new things to still be competitive in the sprints. Things didn't always go the way I wanted, but it was still a constructive experience: now I just have to find that consistency that was missing last year". These are the words of the Irishman to DirectVelo before even stronger and more ambitious declarations in spite of the 34 years recently completed. "The team has offered me a full calendar that will include Tirreno-Adriatico e Giro d'Italia. Now it's up to me to seize the opportunities that will arise to try to return to being one of the best sprinters in the world. Last year, despite everything, I won 5 runs, but they were all concentrated in one week and I don't want that to happen again. The dream would be to win 10 races and doing it after a negative season would have a great value".

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