Thomas back on top after Tour de Suisse triumph

Welshman's dominant performance bodes well for the Tour de France, reports Adam Becket

- Adam Becket

Geraint Thomas might just be back to his Tour de France- winning best. The 36-year-old Ineos Grenadiers rider won the Tour de Suisse last weekend, the fifth WorldTour stage race victory of his career.

He did so in comfortable fashion in the end, overhauling Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the final time trial to win by more than a minute. It was victory at last after three attempts for the Welshman, who missed out to Simon Špilak by just five seconds in the 2015 edition.

It put him back into the conversation about favourites for the Tour de France next month.

The last time Thomas won a WorldTour stage race in June it was 2018, and weeks later he went on to triumph at the Tour, the high point of his long career. That time around it was the Critérium du Dauphiné, and in different circumstances, but he will be taking some confidence from his performance in Switzerland.

Asked post-race if he was back at that level, he said: “I don’t know about that, but it’s nice to get the win. From the Tour last year to the end of the season was probably the hardest period of my career.

“At the start of this year, I was slightly on the back foot but I enjoyed the racing and being with the younger guys on the team. It’s super-nice to be at the pointy end again.”

Thomas has a fascinating relationship with the Tour de France, a tale of working for others (mostly Chris Froome), crashes and unfortunate incidents over the years. He was one of Ineos’s designated leaders last year, but dislocated his shoulder in a crash on stage three, and ended up 41st overall, over two hours behind the winner, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).