"The last mountain top finish in the Tour that I won, Froomey was allowed to attack me! What's with that?" - Geraint Thomas empathises with Sepp Kuss as he recalls his own experiences of being attacked by a teammate
Cycling
Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard finally relented their attacks on stage 18 as a cease-fire was called and Sepp Kuss' Vuelta a Espana victory all but officially confirmed. Although Vingegaard seemed delighted afterwards, Roglic was rather more frosty.
"I have my own thoughts about that, but I will do everything I can to keep the situation as it is now," Roglic said post-stage 18, admitting it was difficult for him, after having prepared and expected to be the team leader. Now, on his Watts Occurring podcast alongside Luke Rowe, Roglic's Giro d'Italia rival, Geraint Thomas has given his view on the whole situation.
"I'd say Jonas has more to achieve. As in, by winning the Vuelta he would get more from it than Primoz winning a fourth," the Welsh leader of the INEOS Grenadiers says. "Let's be honest, no one really cares if you win 3, 4 or 5 Vueltas. Spain's for holidays mate not for riding a bike, we've been through this!"
"The other thing was he continued to ride," Thomas continues, referencing stage 17 where both Roglic and Vingegaard rode away from Kuss. "Maybe he was hoping to drop Jonas as well? But he got nothing out of that. He would have won the stage if he'd backed off 10 watts, let Sepp stay in the wheel."
Thomas himself was once viewed similarly as Kuss, having spent many years as a super domestique for Chris Froome before the Welshman won the Tour de France in his own right.
"The last mountain top finish in the Tour that I won, Froomey was allowed to attack me! What's with that?" Thomas recalls. "The only reason it happened though was because it was like stage 18 or something and I knew if I had to respond I could and I would. There's no way I was going to let him win that, no way I was going to let him ride up the road and I was the 'understudy' so to speak, I committed everything to him and he was still full gas to try and win that."
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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abstractengineer15-09-20233
Good on G
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- Congrats! It is done so now is time for CX.averagecyclist15-11-2026
- It's going to happen at some point. It will happen to Tadej as well, we all get older. Jonas was in pretty great form at the tour. I still consider him a top two or three cyclist in the world, until he's not.awp15-11-2026
- mij, I am not so sure of that. I have been on a spine ward at a Denver hospital that had quite a few spinal injuries from mountain biking.BDBigGuy15-11-2026
- Pogi takes care of his teammates in races and training. Tadej Pogačar is widely praised within the cycling peloton for his fair and egalitarian leadership, actively supporting his UAE teammates both on the road during races and behind the scenes at training camps. Rather than acting like an untouchable superstar, he has intense team loyalty by sharing daily chores, giving up personal glory to help domestiques, and publicly praising their sacrifices. Unlike some Grand Tour contenders, like Vingegaard, who occasionally train away from their squads, Pogi consistently attends team training camps alongside his domestiques, making the exact same sacrifices to build friendship. I love how Pogačar shares his teammates-domestiques, either when they succeed or win in races or when they simply just do a good job for him. It has to be a great moral boost for them. And then they work even harder and go even deeper for Pogi. This is teamwork.PogiSloFans15-11-2026
- Yeah, what he said!Lozza15-11-2026
- I’m sure Jasper Philipsen would disagree with you.Lozza15-11-2026
- Article says he was “out for a spin around the town”, implying not off-road.Lozza15-11-2026
- let’s be honest, Alpecin is all about one rider - MVDP. I’m sure he gets whatever he needs, the rest get the scraps.mij15-11-2026
- there are more vicious injuries on a road bike than a mountain bike far and away.mij15-11-2026
- That'll be one crazy rider
Rafionain-Glas15-11-2026
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There was one major talking point on last night's pod: #JumboGate Listen now to get the full thoughts of @GeraintThomas86 and @LukeRowe1990 on the wild last few days at #LaVuelta23
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