Tour de France and Tour of Britain for Geraint Thomas' final season as a pro, but no Paris-Roubaix: "The classics are just too crazy for me now"

Geraint Thomas will start his final season as a pro rider where he was considering racing Paris-Roubaix, but that seems unlikely no... Today INEOS Grenadiers have shared that the Welshman should be racing the Tour de France - the race where he's won his biggest ever title in the sport.

In a video shared by the team on Youtube, Thomas has said where he will race this upcoming year: "Starting [Tour] Down Under, it will be my 10th Tour Down Under. For me it's the best place to start, you have one month or five weeks down there, consistent training good weather, ideally the family can come with you".

The choice to start the season in Australia is due to several factors, mainly the fact that at that time he will have already spent four and a half months without racing: "My last race was September 1st, I DNF'ed. It's a long time, that's why I was like start Down Under, good block down there, set yourself up for the year". 

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Earlier in the winter Thomas said that he would like to race Paris-Roubaix in his final season as a pro, at the age of 38, but he reconsiders that now taking into consideration how many crashes happen in the one-day races. Instead then, the veteran will follow a stage-race focused calendar throughout the spring before hopefully returning to the Tour de France which he won in 2018.

"Come back I think in the moment Algarve and then a few stage-races... Tirreno, Catalunya, the classics are just too crazy for me now I think, you got to be prepared to crash and all I'm not sure I've got the minerals for that anymore," he argues. "More stage-races, would love to do one more Tour, maybe do Tour of Britain to finish it all off".

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