Thomas to spearhead ‘super-strong’ Ineos Grenadiers at Tour de France

Geraint Thomas will spearhead Ineos Grenadiers’ assault on Tadej Pogacar’s grip on the coveted yellow jersey in the 2022 Tour de France, which starts in Copenhagen on Friday with a 13km time trial through the streets of the Danish capital.

The 36-year-old Welshman, who will be backed by teammates Daniel Martínez and Adam Yates, is in resurgent form after ending a barren spell with victory in the Tour de Suisse and the 2018 champion accepted that he was a contender, rather than a clear favourite, to overthrow the 23-year-old leader of the UAE Emirates team.

“We don’t have the favourite in the race,” Thomas said. “In the past we always had [Chris] Froome, or Brad [Wiggins], myself or Egan [Bernal]. We’ve always had one of the big favourites going into the start. Now we all know it’s Pogacar and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) in the last couple of years.”

The Slovenian pair have between them won four of the last seven Grand Tours of France, Italy and Spain, with Ineos riders winning the 2020 and 2021 Giros, but only in their absence. Yet Ineos remain bullish about their chances, with the team manager, Rod Ellingworth, insisting that Pogacar, in line for a hat-trick of Tour wins, can be beaten.

“If you think he can’t be beaten, then you may as well not start,” Ellingworth said. Thomas, runner-up in 2019, was wary of making big predictions. “Switzerland showed I was in decent shape, so we’ll see how it goes here,” he said. “We’ve got a super-strong team. The main thing is we ride together, we’re aggressive together and we ride off each other, which is what we’ve done all year.”

“I’ve won the race and I’ve come second,” he said of his own Tour record. “I’m a lot closer to the end of my career now than the start. I’ve got a lot of