"It has been hard, to be honest, because a lot of things have gone wrong" - Bad luck hits Geraint Thomas once again, who punctures at Vuelta time-trial

It has not been Geraint Thomas' Vuelta a Espana so far. The Welshman looked to put a rough first week behind him and start off the second half of the race in good terms, but has punctured in the time-trial preventing him from fighting for a strong result.

"You've just got to laugh really, haven't you? I thought I'd treat it like I was going full, you know?" he said following his effort. "I attacked it at the start because even if I sit up halfway around, it'll still do me good for tomorrow because if I don't do much, then I block up, and I can feel terrible. A good hit-out was what I wanted anyway."

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INEOS Grenadiers and Thomas could celebrate at the end of the day as Filippo Ganna got the best of Remco Evenepoel and rode to victory, however it was still a tough pill to swallow for Thomas when he had to stop and change bikes.

"I actually felt OK. I was still doing the numbers that were on the plan, but then the chain got stuck between the 11 and the frame. I had to change bikes, and then I was like, 'Ah, I'll just push a bit,' but I switched off a bit and then rode it in," he explains. "I treated it as a nice little warmup for the rest of the week."

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Thomas still rode to 20th spot on the day, a good result taken into context. The veteran was INEOS' main card for the overall classification but crashed twice in the first week and didn't have the legs to fight for a result the same way he did at the Giro d'Italia. With both Thymen Arensman and Laurens de Plus also abandoning the race, the INEOS riders have free role to chase stage wins in the coming weeks.

"I think as a team, we just have to start every day like it's a one-day really. I think we'll try and make the moves because you never know when a breakaway might go, but at the same time, it might be a GC day as well. I think we just need to race every day as best we can and keep believing in ourselves. It has been hard, to be honest, because a lot of things have gone wrong. But that's the way it goes sometimes. We've just got to keep our heads up and keep trying, and that's all we can do," he concludes.

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"Happy new teeth day" - Thymen Arensman's road to recovery takes another step

INEOS Grenadiers

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All in for the team 🤜🤛 Cheers from #LaVuelta23 🥂

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