"I'm not going to give up yet" - Geraint Thomas suffers big hit on first mountain clash at Vuelta

Geraint Thomas was one of the losers from the first mountain clash. He had hinted for lesser good form arriving at the Vuelta a Espana, and on the first summit finish he shed some time and took a hit in his run for the podium.

"I just didn't have it today. It didn't go well," Thomas told Eurosport. "During the first hours I felt quite okay, but on the last climb I felt I couldn't really push on. I was quite far back and had to pull out all the stops to keep from dropping.”

Ultimately the Welshman was not successful. His loss on the day was not huge, he crossed the finish line together with Egan Bernal, 47 seconds back on Remco Evenepoel. However he was 23rd on the day only, with plenty outsiders and non-GC contenders outclimbing him in Arinsal.

After this stage he sits 21st in the overall classification, 1:11 minutes down on the Belgian, however it is a very different start to that he had at the Vuelta a Espana. “Of course I'm not going to give up yet. I'm going to keep fighting. But this is certainly a day to forget."