Geraint Thomas is looking to continue his early-season momentum as he prepares for Milan-San Remo.
Now fully focused on the road again after achieving his Olympic gold medal ambitions for a second time last summer on the track, the Welshman has begun the year in great form, taking a stage win at the Tour Down Under on only his third race day of the year before going on to finish third overall.
Also Team Sky’s best-placed rider at the start of the Classics with fourth at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Thomas is now looking to carry that form into the mythical Italian Monument.
On his return from the team’s training camp, Thomas reflected on his season so far, “The season has gone pretty well so far,” he stated on Sky’s website. “It was good to get that win so early on in the second stage Down Under. To finish on the podium was a nice consolation really after losing the leader's jersey. Het Nieuwsblad went fairly well too so it’s been a good start and I just want to keep pushing forward now.”
Even though the Tour of Flanders is his favourite classic, the longest one-day race of the season is also too big for Thomas to ignore, the Welshman hoping he can play a key part in what the team are hoping will be their best tilt at the race to date.
“Flanders is my favourite and that’s the race that I’d love to get a result in if I had to pick one. But they are all huge races and it would be great to get a result in any of them. I just want to race hard, get stuck in and do my best in all of them. Help out the team when I have to and take my chances when I can. It [Milan-San Remo] is massive. It’s one of the biggest one-day races in the world. It’s up there with Flanders and Roubaix with the history, plus it’s also in Italy with their passion for the sport of cycling. It’s a massive goal for the team and hopefully I can do my bit. It’s probably one of the toughest races to win in the fact that there are so many different things that can happen.”
As always in the lead-up to Milan-San Remo, much of the talk centres on the favourites for the race.
“With the La Manie climb it starts a lot earlier now and all the Italians are going to be riding flat stick up there anyway. I think we’ve got to hope for a hard race and hopefully that will get rid of some of the sprinters. Sagan is completely different. He can climb with the best and sprint with the best. Numbers are key. If we can have a few at the end and have a few options to play and isolate people than anything can happen. It’s still anyone’s race I think.”
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