Geraint Thomas on return to cycling and season ahead after illness - 'It's been stop-start since December'

Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) has admitted he has had a “stop-start” season so far after being forced to pull out of multiple races due to illness. Thomas suffered an infection in January at the Tour Down Under and subsequently missed the Volta ao Algarve and Tirreno-Adriatico. Ad He made his return on Monday at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, which forms part of his preparations for the Giro d’Italia in May — one of the three Grand Tours that will be live on Eurosport and discovery+.

Tirreno — AdriaticoThomas to miss Tirreno-Adriatico, likely to return at Volta a Catalunya05/03/2023 AT 15:31 “I’m happy to be back and looking forward to a big week,” Thomas told Eurosport. “It’s been stop-start since the December training camp. It’s just all about working hard now.

I’ll go to altitude after this. “There is still quite a bit of time until the Giro, plus the last week of the Giro is certainly hard, so we will take it as it comes.” Thomas has had a disappointing run at the Giro after crashing out in his last two appearances in 2017 and 2020. The opening Grand Tour of the year is not on his mind, though, as he simply looks to get some racing under his belt.

“[This week is] just about working hard, getting a good workload in and getting some racing in the legs,” he said. “Yesterday was a bit of shock to the system but I kind of expected that. “At the moment it’s still about racing as best as I can and I’ll think about the Giro afterwards.