“I’m a little better now” - Geraint Thomas compares his form to last year at the Tour of the Alps ahead of the Giro d’Italia

Although all focus is on the Ardennes Classics at the moment, the Giro d’Italia is beginning to loom on the horizon. One rider who is fully focused on the Corsa Rosa is Geraint Thomas, who narrowly missed out on the overall victory by just 14 seconds to Primož Roglič and will be looking to go one better at this year’s race.

Similarly to last season, the Welshman is using the Tour of the Alps as his final preparation race ahead of May, as the race that crosses between the Italian and Austrian Alps includes the type of climbs that tend to prominently feature on the route of the Giro d’Italia.

Speaking to WielerFlits ahead of this week’s race, Thomas said “the Tour of the Alps is my last preparation race, just like last year. I’m looking forward to it. It is always hard racing here, because it is a tough week with many climbs. That should be good for me”.

When asked why he chose this race as his final race over something like the Tour de Romandie, Thomas replied “mainly because of the good timing. We still have two weeks after this race until the Giro d’Italia. We can then fine-tune everything. And it’s always good to race in the mountains”.

The INEOS Grenadiers rider tends to not move the needle in any of his preparation races ahead of a Grand Tour, as he often chooses to keep his powder dry for the main event. Having previously won this race overall in 2017, it seems that he does have some ambitions for this year’s Tour of the Alps though, as he said “I’ll take what I can anyway. In every race I aim for the best possible result. First of all, let’s see what the legs say, but I want to take every opportunity anyway”.

On his form ahead of the Giro d’Italia compared to this point last season, Thomas said “I’m a little better now. At least I hope so. But above all I feel a little more consistent. Of course, my Giro did not end in the best way. With the start to the season I had then, it was still better than expected. We’ll see what this year brings. In any case, my structure was more stable”.