Geraint Thomas believed Ineos Grenadiers’ victory in the Paris-Nice team time trial was evidence that the squad are “on the way back” after what he described as “a rough couple of years”.
The 2018 Tour de France winner, who retired at the end of last year, was behind the wheel of the Ineos team car on Tuesday in his first team time trial in a new role of director of racing.
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“The TTT is something that’s always been close to my heart personally, and the team’s,” said Thomas, who won a TTT with Team Sky en route to the overall Critérium du Dauphiné victory that preceded his Tour de France glory.
“I was more nervous than I thought I’d be, to be honest,” he added, in reference to his new role on the other side of the fence. “I knew I’d care about the guys, stepping into this new role, but that was insane.”
Ineos Grenadiers set off late and set the fastest time on the 23.5km course on stage 3 of the ‘Race to the Sun’, which Thomas won in 2016. They edged Lidl-Trek by two seconds, and their trio of GC leaders – Carlos Rodriguez, Oscar Onley, and Kévin Vauquelin – put 15 seconds into pre-race favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
“The whole team has just been incredible. It’s a massive team effort. We set out at the start of the year with this as a big goal. To be honest, we didn’t expect it in Paris-Nice – it was more about learning – but it’s not bad, is it?
“We had a plan, but the plan goes out the window as soon as you start, doesn’t it? The way they adapted and rode the race on feel and just adjusted, it was great to see.”
The Paris-Nice stage 3 success marked Ineos Grenadiers’ ninth victory of the season so far. That’s a third of the way to their tally from 2025, and almost up at the tally of just 14 from 2024. Once the dominant force in professional cycling, with the Tour de France seemingly under lock and key, Ineos Grenadiers have fallen from their perch in recent years, and have at times looked listless in terms of identity and direction.
Thomas’ back-room role coincided…
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