Geraint Thomas will be present at the Vuelta a Espana. The Team Sky rider is hoping to continue the form which earned him a new great climber at the Tour de France last month. According to the British team website, he explained his goals for the Spanish road race.

"I'm looking forward to it. It's strange to be starting a Grand Tour which is so much more relaxed than the Tour de France", he told. "I haven't done a massive amount of training leading into the race – my focus over the last month has been recovering from the Tour and trying to maintain my condition in preparation for this.  I'm riding into the unknown really but I'm ready to give it a good go."

He has had a long season. It started at the Tour Down Under in January and he has also ridden full Classics and Tour campaigns. "Definitely, I was just thinking that the other day actually. I've already got about 65 days of racing in my legs, and the vast majority of those have been at WorldTour level. That means it's been consistently hard racing, but it's always been a goal of mine to ride the Vuelta this year."

He added the motivation is still very much. "Right now it is, but I might have changed my mind by the time we get to the end of the 11th stage in Andorra [laughs]. Seriously - this is a huge race so it's been easy to get myself up for it. As I said, the hardest bit is when you're a week in and you're already on your knees, then you've got to dig deep mentally to get through it. I've got one eye on the World Championships as well, so this will hopefully help me go well there."

The World Championship road race will take place in one month. "No, not really. By going well I mean being able to finish the race and doing my bit for the team as I haven't been able to do that in the last two years. We'll have to see how things go, but I'd like to have a decent ride in Richmond and the Vuelta is a great way to get ready for that. You can't replicate race pace in training, so working hard in the peloton is the best way for me to do that."