Dani Martínez had predicted that the Tour de France hierarchy at Ineos Grenadiers would not be decided on the climb of Super Planche des Belles Filles but, as the dust settled, Geraint Thomas emerged as the British super team’s best finisher and now spearheads their trident of GC riders.
Race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) surged away with Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) in the steep final 200 metres of the race’s first summit finish, but Thomas finished fifth at only 14 seconds, just behind Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma).
Adam Yates fought the gradient to finish ninth at 29 seconds, with Martínez further back at 45 seconds.
Pogačar gained another 10-second time bonus by edging past Vingegaard to win the stage and now leads the Dane by 35 seconds. Thomas is up to third at 1:10, rising three places and past Yates, who is fourth at 1:18. Martínez slipped to eighth at 1:55.
Thomas called on the Ineos Grenadiers team to use their strength in numbers wisely.
“It’s good that we’re all there,” he said at the summit. “We haven’t done a proper mountain stage yet and we’re in there. Going into the next two weeks we’ll try to use those numbers well and not just attack at random.”
Thomas is aware of the challenge he and Ineos Grenadiers face against Pogačar and Vingegaard but with every good performance on every key stage, he is growing in confidence. He was equally as strong in the 2019 Tour de France on the Planche des Belles Filles and went on to finish second overall.
“In 2019 it was a similar thing. I’m happy to have been in the mix,” Thomas said. “Obviously Pogačar is strong. He can ride the cobbles, sprint on uphill finishes, and can win sprints, he’s got it all.”
However, he did not share the view that the Slovenian was invincible, highlighting potential weaknesses in his team as cause for optimism.
“He has [Rafal] Majka who is riding well and [George] Bennett is decent, too. But the rest [of his team] were struggling at climbing, so hopefully we can use our numbers on him at some point. We’re going to definitely try and we’ve got three guys to try it.
“Of course it’s not just Pogačar we’ve got to try and beat. Jumbo-Visma are also strong. But we’re in the mix, which is the main thing. We’re there or there or thereabouts, so we can definitely try to use those numbers.”
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