Geraint Thomas secured the overall victory in the Bayern Rundfahrt for the second time in his career when he got safely through today's final sprint stage. After thanking his teammates, the Welshman has already set his sights on a busy summer as he hopes to be selected as a key domestique for Chris Froome at the Tour de France.

Geraint Thomas wrapped up his second Bayern Rundfahrt title as Team Sky won the race for the third time in four seasons.

Thomas was never troubled on the fifth and final stage and cruised home in the front group after Sam Bennett (NetApp-Endura) had sprinted to victory in Nuremberg.

Vasil Kiryienka was right alongside Thomas in the heart of the peloton which meant he secured third place on the overall standings, and a hugely-productive week in Germany also saw Team Sky top the team classification.

After he came down from the podium, Thomas took time to praise his team-mates for a job well done and revealed his attentions had already turned to his next phase of the season.

“It was a tough final stage which meant the boys had to ride hard all day,” he told TeamSky.com. “But all I had to do was sit in behind them and have confidence that they’d finish the job for me, which they did, so all good.

“I’d done a lot of hard training before the race at our altitude training camp in Tenerife, and I was pleased to feel strong and ride hard here.

“This win has definitely boosted my confidence heading into a busy summer. I’ve got the Dauphine coming up next and then hopefully the Tour de France. It was nice to get this result but now I’m already focusing on helping Chris [Froome], and I’m really looking forward to that.”

Back on the team bus, Gabriel Rasch was delighted with how his first race as a Sports Director had panned out - although ever modest - he insisted it was the riders who deserved the praise for their efforts more than him.

"It wasn't a bad start as a DS was it!" he laughed when we caught up with him. "It's been a good week and I've learned a lot. I've really enjoyed it.

"Today was a pretty hard day. Those early attacks meant we had to do a lot of work this morning and everybody played their part. Once the break went Ian [Boswell] and Christian [Knees] kept a close eye on them.

"The sprint teams helped us out at the end, but we needed Luke [Rowe] to do some work which meant he couldn't go for the sprint.

"Everything went to plan though and we're really happy. As well a G winning, it was great to see Kiry take third, and Pete [Kennaugh] and Christian in the top 15 because it shows our strength in depth.

"Those guys are all trying to get in contention for a Tour de France ride, and they've been really impressive this week - everyone has."