‘A day to see the back of’ – Geraint Thomas unscathed through Giro d’Italia gravel stage

As the dust billowed across the finale of the much-feared sterrato stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia, race leader Tadej Pogačar never looked to be in trouble. But there could be no doubt, either, that rather than UAE Team Emirates, Geraint Thomas’ Ineos Grenadiers was the squad with the firmest control of the favourites’ peloton.

Rather than arrange for an attack by the Welshman, Thomas himself explained later, the hard work from his teammates Thymen Arensman and Magnus Sheffield was designed to keep Thomas out of trouble and set things up for stage 1 winner Jhonatan Narvaez for the final climb.