Geraint Thomas wins Bayern Rundfahrt for second time

Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas has won the overall title in the German stage race the Bayern Rundfahrt for the second time in four years.

The 28-year-old Welshman won yesterday’s individual time trial to take the lead of the race that he previously won in 2011, and finished today’s fifth and final stage, won by NetApp-Endura’s Sam Bennett, in the front group to claim victory.

Quoted on the Team Sky website, Thomas said: “It was a tough final stage which meant the boys had to ride hard all day.

“But all I had to do was sit in behind them and have confidence that they’d finish the job for me, which they did, so all good.

“I’d done a lot of hard training before the race at our altitude training camp in Tenerife, and I was pleased to feel strong and ride hard here.

“This win has definitely boosted my confidence heading into a busy summer. I’ve got the Dauphine coming up next and then hopefully the Tour de France. It was nice to get this result but now I’m already focusing on helping Chris [Froome], and I’m really looking forward to that.”

"Today was a pretty hard day. Those early attacks meant we had to do a lot of work this morning and everybody played their part. Once the break went Ian [Boswell] and Christian [Knees] kept a close eye on them.”