Geraint Thomas warmed up for the Tour de France with his first stage race win in four years and warned: “I'll be ready to take my chance if it comes.”
The 2018 Yellow Jersey winner defied searing heat to become the first British winner at the Tour of Switzerland and admitted he was relieved to emerge from the “hardest black period” of his career. At 36, Thomas has only an outside chance of another triumph on Le Tour next month – the last rider to reach the Champs Elysees in clover beyond his 35th birthday was Belgium's Firmin Lambot 100 years ago.
But Wales' double Olympic champion on the track, just three seconds behind overnight leader Sergio Higuita, surged past the Colombian by more than a minute in the final 16.5-mile time trial. Thomas, whose 2021 season was blighted by a dislocated shoulder on Le Tour and another heavy crash in the road race at the Tokyo Games, cut a sorry figure 11 months ago, cursing: “I must have done something bad in a previous life.”
