With three stages under the belt and a wardrobe malfunction in the opening time trial aside, the 2022 Tour de France has begun relatively smoothly for Geraint Thomas. Compared with his disastrous starts to the recent Grand Tours of France and Italy the Welshman is doing very well indeed but then the 36-year-old’s gift for deadpan understatement has long helped him survive the gladiatorial world of professional road racing.
Even at the worst of times Thomas’s dry humour has remained intact. Since winning the Tour in 2018 he has needed it. There have been crashes and a dip in status after the Ineos Grenadiers understudy Egan Bernal prevented him from claiming back-to-back wins in 2019.