Wales' Geraint Thomas has become the first British winner of the Tour de Suisse after finishing second in the individual time trial.
The Welshman, 36, finished the final stage of Switzerland's biggest road race on Sunday just three seconds behind Belgian stage winner Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team), who completed the 25.6km course in 28 minutes and 26 seconds.
Ineos Grenadiers cyclist Thomas claims the overall victory in the race having finished more than a minute faster than Sergio Higuita (BORA-hansgrohe) to overtake him in the overall standings. Thomas won the general classification by one minute and 12 seconds.
Thomas had emerged as the favourite to win the race on Saturday following his fifth-place finish in the penultimate stage, with the final eighth-stage being an individual time-trial in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.
The event was marred by almost 30 riders, including four teams, pulling out because of Covid on Friday.
The victory marks Thomas' ninth stage-race victory of his career, while he is hitting form at an opportune time right before the Tour de France begins on July 1 and ends on July 24. Cardiff native Thomas, of course, won that race back in 2018.
He has also been selected to represent Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which begin on July 28. It marks the first time he returns to the Welsh jersey since topping the podium in Glasgow 2014. You can see the full list of Welsh athletes at the Commonwealth Games here.
Thomas said in his post-race interview: "I was second back in 2015 and second in the TT but Spilak overtook me and I lost that by about five seconds so it’s super nice to win here. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, especially after that narrow loss but it’s really nice to win in such a big race, such a hard race. For sure it’s the hottest race I’ve done, consistently, so I’m super happy.
“I think especially with the heat you had to be conservative and not be too aggressive too quickly. The stage that Vlasov won that was a super hard day, they’ve all been tough to be fair, but just consistency, always being up there in the right place. Obviously we lost our leader in Yates which was unfortunate but to rally and do what we’ve done has been super satisfying.
“I think as a team we can [compete with Pogačar and Roglič]. Man v man is a different story, they’re super talented and as we all know they’ve been the MVPs of the last couple of years but I think we’ve got a strong team. It’s just about staying healthy now - easier said than done these days - but we’ve got a strong team, we’re all motivated and we’re going to give our best."
