Geraint Thomas on Tom Pidcock and his fallout with INEOS: "I miss him, he'd still be great to have around"

Geraint Thomas is now in his final season of a long professional career, and he is completing it with INEOS Grenadiers where he's been racing for decade and a half. In a recent interview he's talked about his mindset heading into his final Tour de France and also Tom Pidcock who left the British team last winter.

"I don't think whatever issues Tom had were the reason for the whole team lacking a couple of results. I miss him, he'd still be great to have around. He's still riding well, isn't he?" Thomas said in an interview with The Guardian. "The narrative around the team is a big thing. I stay in my own little bubble, most of the time, and I've still been able to be successful".

However with a big change of staff and tactics into 2025, the team is largely avoiding the criticism that it was a target of last year. "Now that there are more positive stories about the way the team is racing, that also helps. When people are writing negative stuff all the time, it's easy to believe it."

Thomas announced his retirement at the end of this season back in February, and has since raced 30 days throughout Australia, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Belgium and lastly Switzerland where he recently finished the Tour de Romandie. He supported Carlos Rodríguez there, whom he will be backing up once again at the Tour de France later this summer.

"It's a different mindset this year as I'm not going for the general classification. It's been a little too relaxed, maybe, so it's time to knuckle down, diet and everything," he continued. "Bike riders have always been skinny. It's more the whole package. Everyone is just stronger. Everyone is training better". With two months left to the Grand Depart, most riders will begin their Tour-specific preparation very soon including Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel who will aim to have the best possible form into July. 

"Losing those few kilos makes a big difference these days. They always have done, but even more so now, the whole peloton is getting better. Before, it was just a couple of people in every team going to altitude or whatever, but now it's whole teams that are on it."