As the dust billowed across the finale of the much-feared sterrato stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia, race leader Tadej Pogačar never looked to be in trouble. But there could be no doubt, either, that rather than UAE Team Emirates, Geraint Thomas' Ineos Grenadiers was the squad with the firmest control of the favourites’ peloton.
Rather than arrange for an attack by the Welshman, Thomas himself explained later, the hard work from his teammates Thymen Arensman and Magnus Sheffield was designed to keep Thomas out of trouble and set things up for stage 1 winner Jhonatan Narvaez for the final climb.
With a three-man break up the road stubbornly resisting the high pace in the peloton, Ineos Grenadiers missed out on bringing the Ecuadorean National Champion back into contention.
However, as Thomas told Cyclingnews between swigs of an energy drink after finishing 15th, the second objective of maintaining his options and getting through the day was achieved in full.
“I can’t complain, obviously it was tough but I rode really well and it was a super hard day, but it went pretty quick,” Thomas said.
The Welshman also agreed Thymen Arensman had a great day, spearheading the peloton of favourites for much of the finale, after the Dutchman’s difficult start to the Giro.
“He’s feeling a lot better and that’s really good to see,” he said.
Speaking to a bigger group of reporters a little further on in the finish area, Thomas said that although chasing the break was not a top priority, “obviously if it did come back, Jhonny was going to have a good go".
“I don’t know what the gap was in the end. We knew it was coming down, so that’s why we kept the pace up a bit," Thomas said.
“Twenty seconds? It would have been nice to come back and let Jhonny have a good go, but it was definitely a day to see the back or in any case.”
Several top favourites had described the gravel stage as one to survive rather than to go all out with attacks, and on a day which was, within obvious limits, relatively calm on the GC front, Thomas agreed that the presence of a time trial stage the day after could well have been a factor.
"Going onto the gravel sections, we said we’d take the lead and dictate what we’re doing [it meant] less people in front of us, you know what’s happening.
“Then after the last sector, we just kept it going really. It was more, if UAE go, we’d end up doing a bit as well, so it was just one of those days, just to stay at the front, stay out of trouble. It was just what we wanted really, to get through it as best as possible.”
On Friday, the change in scenario for the Giro d’Italia GC contenders could not be more abrupt, as the peloton faces a 40.6-kilometre individual time trial, complete with a category 4 climb ascending to the finish.
For Thomas, well-known as a top time triallist, Friday’s challenge definitely favours him on paper. He can take encouragement from the fact his last time trial win, back in the 2018 British National Championships, was over an almost identical distance.
However, some water has flown under the bridge since then, and the Welshman pointed out that both the rugged nature of the course and the change of speciality from gravel to TT in the space of 24 hours made it hard to predict what could happen. On top of which, of course, there's the presence of Pogačar, currently 47 seconds ahead, to keep in mind.
“I don’t know, it’s always a funny one isn’t it, getting on the TT bike now," he reflected. "We’ll just give it everything, and have a go. It’s a tough one, you have to pace it well with a hard final, so we’ll see.”
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