Geraint Thomas ahead of 2019 Tour de France: ‘If I’m a one-hit wonder then it’s a pretty good hit to have’

With Thomas there is no sense that he is anxious to become a multiple champion or that he needs to cement his legacy when he takes to the start line of the Tour de France in Brussels on Saturday

Saturday in Brussels will be the first time since 2011 that Geraint Thomas has started a Tour de France without Chris Froome by his side. This time Thomas arrives as reigning champion, wearing the No1 on his back, and he will lead Team Ineos outside of Froome’s shadow. But if the laidback Welshman is feeling the pressure of stepping into the spotlight, he isn’t letting it show. “I don’t think it makes too much difference,” Thomas says. “You just have to answer a few more questions in the press.”

The irony of Thomas’s newfound responsibility within Team Ineos is that even in Froome’s absence, he still might not be their strongest rider. The 22-year-old Colombian Egan Bernal was a brilliant foil for the team last year and after winning the Tour de Suisse last month he has been promoted to a co-leader role. If the exceptionally talented Bernal doesn’t win the Tour de France this year then he will soon enough, and the danger for Thomas is that he gets caught between the great eras of Froome and Bernal.

What if he’s just a one-hit wonder? “If I’m a one-hit wonder then it’s a pretty good hit to have. A lot of guys dream of just riding the Tour, so to be one of the riders that’s won it is amazing. I just want to get that feeling that I got last year. It was an amazing feeling to be riding strong and racing well in the biggest bike race of them all, and that what’s motivated me since the start of the year really, to get right there in the crunch again. Whether that means a win or I’m fifth or tenth, the main thing is I get there in the best shape I can and race as well as I can, and what will be will be.”

Thomas has admitted he celebrated hard after his triumph last year, giving the realisation of a lifelong dream the recognition it deserved. He began training seriously in January and started the strict regime of diet and sleep in February ahead of the Tour of Romandie, where he finished a confidence-boosting third amongst a competitive field. From there injury has hampered his preparation and his crash at the Tour de Suisse denied him the chance to really gauge his shape ahead of this race, but Thomas believes the experience of winning the Tour is the most valuable preparation he can possibly have in his armoury.

“I guess I know what I need to do,” he says. “I think the main thing is it means I can be a bit more relaxed. People normally take that to mean the drive is not there, but it’s more relaxed in a way that say, [I’m] in a finish and people are jumping around, you just get confidence. You know not to panic and become too eager. Another rider who hasn’t fulfilled their potential could get a bit too eager and maybe make the wrong decisions whereas maybe I could be a bit more calculated.”

With Thomas there is no sense that he is anxious to become a multiple champion or that he needs to cement his legacy. So long the domestique patting Froome or Bradley Wiggins on the back on the Champs Elysees, it would be understandable if he thought that his moment in the Parisian sun would never come. Now it has, he wants to revel in the moment.

“It will be a honour and I will be massively proud to be No1 on my back for the Tour and just enjoy it and soak it up. Maybe the older you get the more sentimental you get – you understand how big some thing are. When I did Beijing Olympics I knew it was big, and I have always loved the Olympics, but looking back it was pretty special to win a gold medal at 22. And I think at the time you don’t understand how big it is. So I think I want to get the chance to soak this Tour up, not in too much away that it throws you off, but just to appreciate it more.

“If I don’t win this year it’s not like I’m going to retire and be like ‘ah shit, I should have won that stuffing Tour in 2019’.”