Geraint Thomas & Jonas Vingegaard share funny Tour de France moment: "He joked, 'Do you miss it?' I said, 'Mate, I should’ve stopped last year'"

The opening stage of the 2025 Tour de France was an incredibly dramatic one on Saturday afternoon. For Geraint Thomas, the oldest rider in the peloton and in his final ever Grand Tour, it was a rude welcome to his farewell Tour.

"I’ve seen some random stuff on social media — people saying I was the youngest in my first Tour and now the oldest in my last. Full circle, isn’t it?" Thomas reflects on his podcast after surviving the stage 1 drama. "There’s been a lot of chat about whether I’m getting emotional or trying to enjoy it. Obviously you want to, but days like today, you don’t enjoy — you enjoy them once they’re done, and you’ve survived them. I’m sure there’ll be nicer stages, but today was just a typical Tour stage."

"Everyone wanted to be at the front. We started well — on the front foot, mostly together. You can’t ride as a full team all day, it’s impossible, but we were doing alright. Then about halfway through, there was the crash," continues Thomas, referencing the incident that saw his INEOS Grenadiers teammate Filippo Ganna forced to abandon. "I was just behind it. It was on a righthander, not even really a proper corner. Just one of those moments where there’s a bit of a coming together."

"I saw him on the floor, sitting up, pulling a face, but I thought he was okay — we weren’t going that fast. But then he took ages to get back to the group, which was odd. Then we heard on the radio the doctor had stopped him due to concussion," Thomas continues. "It was the right decision, of course, and he’s gone to hospital for checks. But it’s a massive shame. He’s one of our leaders. Carlos Rodriguez is our GC man, but Ganna was our next big hope for a stage — especially the TTs and breakaways. It’s a blow. Big powerhouse like him, and we lose him on day one."

"Leaving the Tour at any point is gutting, but the first day just feels worse," Thomas adds, although he does see a ray of light for Ganna. "That said, all the work he’s done is still in the bank — he can use it later. The Vuelta starts in Italy, I’m sure that’s his next big focus. I saw him on the bus. He seemed okay, just disappointed. That’s bike racing. Suck it up, get on with it. Same thing we say to our kids when they whinge."

Although Thomas didn't crash, he was caught out behind a decisive split in the finale, losing 39 seconds to the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. "Yeah, I’m annoyed. I knew the split was going to happen. When it did, I was maybe seven or eight riders behind. Going into the corner, I thought, 'I should move, but it’ll take effort.' I saw three Trek riders in front — one was Milan, their sprinter — so I figured they’d be all over it. Quick-Step and Remco were behind me, Roglic was close. I got lazy. Sat on the wheel. Complacent," he explains.

"I thought they’d close it, but they hesitated. Slow to react. I was like, 'Boys… you gonna close this or what?'" he recalls ruefully. "Then the gap opened. I spent the next 15k cursing myself. You know it’s going to happen, and you still make the mistake. I’m not even meant to be riding GC, but it still annoys me."

Whilst Thomas might have already announced his lack of GC intent in 2025, the former Tour winner was among the main Maillot Jaune contenders earlier in the day. "I had a chat with Jonas about 45 minutes ago. He joked, 'Do you miss it? Happy to be back?' I said, 'Mate, I should’ve stopped last year — it’s that stressful.' Funny moment," Thomas smiles. "We’d said we wouldn’t be lining up with other teams this year, trying a different strategy. But it was so chaotic that we just lined up with the main boys to make it easier for Carlos to stay in position. The front guys are riding at threshold, and behind them, me and Jonas are having a little chat. Everyone says the same: 'This is crazy, isn’t it?' But we’re all doing it."