Geraint Thomas predicts riders will “blow up” in final week of Tour de France

2018 Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas predicts that restrictions on training and a lack of racing will cause some riders to “blow up” during the final week of this year’s race, scheduled to begin in Nice on 29 August.

With the WorldTour calendar currently suspended until 1 August, when the Italian one-day race Strade Bianche is due to be held after being postponed by March, there are just two opportunities to ride a stage race before the three-week Grand Tour, at the Tour de Pologne and the Criterium du Dauphiné.

The Team Ineos rider believes that the absence of racing as well as the usual pre-Tour de France reconnaissance trips and training camps, including at altitude, caused by lockdown restrictions in various countries could make for an particularly open 107th edition, should it go ahead.

He told Eurosport: “Hopefully we’ll have Poland and the Dauphine before the Tour, but there are still question marks over them. There are still question marks over everything, really.

“I think we just need to focus on what it is, as if it does go ahead, and commit to that fully,” said the 33-year-old, who has now returned to Monaco from Wales.

“When it comes to recons or training camps, they may be jeopardised by travel restrictions and things, so it’s a totally different build-up to the Tour.”

The final week of the race includes three mountain stages in the Alps and, on the penultimate day, an individual time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles ahead of the final day in Paris.

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Thomas said: “People might be going super well for the first 10 days or so but without that chunk of racing, and it depends what training they’ve been doing, but I think that last week could see a lot of people blowing up. It’ll be exciting to watch.”

“The main thing for me has been staying fresh mentally,” he added. “Obviously the Tour now has a date, but it’s still about 15 weeks away, so that’s a long time.

“It’s about staying fresh mentally then being ready to really knuckle down when it matters, and not sort of burning all your matches now.”

Potentially, Team Ineos could be heading to the race with the last three men to win the yellow jersey – Thomas himself, plus Chris Froome, who took the last of his four victories in 2017 and missed last year’s race through injury, plus reigning champion Egan Bernal.

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However, there has been speculation that Froome, whose current contract expires at the end of the year, may make a mid-season switch to another outfit to guarantee himself undisputed team leadership as he aims for a record-equalling fifth Tour de France victory.

While such moves are rare, UCI rules do permit mid-season transfers to be made during the first two weeks of August, provided that all parties are in agreement.

Having spent most of the lockdown in Wales, Thomas has now returned to his base in Monaco to start training proplerly for the Tour.