Tadej Pogačar's GC rivals knew he would attack on Sunday's queen stage at the Giro d'Italia, but that didn't make it any more manageable, Geraint Thomas said post-race.
The pink-jersey-wearer put in a typically commanding display on stage 15, his most dominant so far at the race, breaking free with 14km to go to win the stage, three minutes ahead of the other GC contenders.
The Slovenian's attack came after over 200km of racing through the mountains, en route to a summit finish at over 2,300m altitude. Speaking after the finish line, Thomas said he "knew the attack was coming", but couldn't respond.
"UAE rode hard all day, they wanted to go for the stage, and fair play to them, chapeau to them, they all just buried themselves," he told the Eurosport cameras in Livigno.
"To be honest, I wasn't feeling 100%. I wasn't confident anyway. I didn't feel super all day. So when it came, I just thought I'd try and use the other guys, follow them."
The only rider who tried to follow Pogačar's stinging attack was Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe), who lasted but a few hundred meters before rejoining the GC pack.
"Obviously we just slowed right up and it became a cat and mouse, a race amongst us really," Thomas said of the group. "Everyone just sort of let Pog go and do his thing."
With the pink jersey out of sight, the other team leaders then rode at their own tempo to the mountaintop finale, where they scrapped for seconds among themselves.
Thomas finished sixth on the stage, clocking the same time as Martínez, to hold onto his second place overall. The duo managed to wrestle out a few extra seconds over their other rivals, though, namely fourth-placed Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who crossed the line eight seconds after them.
"I felt better, the legs sort of came round, and I felt alright by the end. It was nice to gain a bit of time on everyone and finish with Dani," Thomas said.
The Welshman's gap to Pogačar, however, almost doubled on the day. Having gone into the stage three minutes and 41 seconds down on the Slovenian, he now trails by almost seven minutes in the general classification, ahead of the final week of racing.
For Pogačar, the race marked "one of the best days", his fourth stage win on his Giro debut. "I would not say the best day of my career, but it was a really nice stage, a really good route, nice climbs," the race leader said.
"We had this stage in mind since, I don't know, December or whatever. I'm super-happy that we kept it under control. It was a really strong breakaway, but I gave it all in the last 10km or so, 15km. I'm super-happy that I could win a queen stage in Livigno, one of my favourite places in Italy."
