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“Could have been a lot worse” – Geraint Thomas's verdict on his Critérium du Dauphiné opening stage crash

Team Sky rider limits losses after sliding off on a right-hand bend – team mate Kwiatkowski takes race lead

“Could have been a lot worse.” That’s the verdict of Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas after he crashed spectacularly on a right-hand corner during today’s 6.6-kilometre Prologue in Valence of the Critérium du Dauphiné.

The Welsh star, who sustained cuts and bruises in the spectacular chute, recovered to finish the stage in 43rd position overall, 21 seconds behind the day’s fastest rider, his Team Sky colleague Michal Kwiatkowski.

Team Sky rider limits losses after sliding off on a right-hand bend – team mate Kwiatkowski takes race lead

Thomas’s crash apart, it was a good day for Team Sky, with Italian time trial champion Gianni Moscon  posting the third fastest time to get into the best young rider’s white jersey.

Kwiatkowski, who has not raced since Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April said: “After 40 days without racing of course it’s a bit of a surprise, but I know how hard I was training to be in good shape here in the Dauphine, as well as preparing for the Tour.

“You have to always be at the start thinking about the win, otherwise you are not able to perform well.

 “It's going to be difficult, the transition I have to make from spring and performing in the Classics, to getting ready for the Tour,” he continued.

“I was training for more than two weeks at our altitude training camp getting ready for the climbing. Let’s hope I can find my legs, if not here then for the Tour.”

 Speaking of Thomas’s crash, he said: “I know where it happened, it was a really fast bend. I know G can fight for the win in this race. Let’s hope he’s all right and there’s nothing serious.

 “Both Geraint and myself we came here to see how the shape is growing before the Tour. It’s an advantage to win the prologue but the hardest stages are at the end of the race – four mountain finishes, four really hard stages and a team time trial.

“For sure we are looking forward to racing hard, but at the moment I just want to enjoy this victory.

“I had my birthday yesterday and as well this is maybe the last time trial in the national champion’s jersey.

“Of course I will try to defend it at the national championship in a couple of weeks, but it’s always a nice feeling.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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18 comments

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fukawitribe | 5 years ago
1 like

Probably.

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SteveAustin | 5 years ago
0 likes

looks remarkably similar to the crash froome had before the TT in the giro. Just entering corner, fairly upright, just leaning over, front tyre gives way.

conincidence?

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fukawitribe | 5 years ago
2 likes

I'd go mainly a bit of (a) and (b) - he's been down a few times but if we include this crash then two of the last three  'big offs' - TdF and Paris-Roubaix - were nothing really to do with him. There's an awful lot of folk hitting the decks to a lesser or greater degree in races though - most of it is barely shown though, and mostly has little effect on the overall race, so not a great 'news' ticket. G's recent selection of collisions with the ground seem to have been pretty visible though - lucky him  1

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Morgoth985 replied to fukawitribe | 5 years ago
1 like
fukawitribe wrote:

I'd go mainly a bit of (a) and (b) - he's been down a few times but if we include this crash then two of the last three  'big offs' - TdF and Paris-Roubaix - were nothing really to do with him. There's an awful lot of folk hitting the decks to a lesser or greater degree in races though - most of it is barely shown though, and mostly has little effect on the overall race, so not a great 'news' ticket. G's recent selection of collisions with the ground seem to have been pretty visible though - lucky him  1

 

OK mate, cheers.  I appreciate the response - it really was a genuine question.

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Morgoth985 | 5 years ago
1 like

Settle down, it was just a question.  He seems to me to crash more than other riders in the pro peloton.  Is that (a) my flawed perception; (b) him suffering an unusual run of bad luck; or (c) evidence of something going wrong in bike handling, tactics, whatever?

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Simon E | 5 years ago
4 likes

Olympic champion, junior Paris-Roubaix winner etc etc but no respect from the sofa surfers on here. Just as well he's busy racing instead of sniping about something he has no experience of.

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HowardR replied to Simon E | 5 years ago
1 like
Simon E wrote:

Olympic champion, junior Paris-Roubaix winner etc etc but no respect from the sofa surfers on here. Just as well he's busy racing instead of sniping about something he has no experience of.

Twenty billion enormous throbbing tumescent "Yeses" to this comment. 

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MoutonDeMontagne | 5 years ago
1 like

Maybe its the new Sky method of winning races. Throw it down the road early, ride sore and under the radar for a bit, then when all the rivels relax, attack long and take the plaudits! 

*Tongue firmly in cheek

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dreamlx10 | 5 years ago
0 likes

Maybe the bookies could start taking bets on what stage of the tour he's going to crash out

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Jimmy Ray Will | 5 years ago
3 likes

To be fair he spends more time on the floor than any other pro I follow. Could be  that he tends to crash when it matters most - which could be simple luck or something else - or it may be simply because every time he goes down it gets talked about. 

Either way, i am sure he would be more than competent on your average club run.

As an aside, last time I raced G, I beat him fair and square (if sitting on the back of a break for 70miles, before out sprinting someone who has barely turned 18 and a few weeks earlier had lost their spleen in an accident is deemed fair and square).

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ChrisB200SX | 5 years ago
2 likes

I wish I was good enough to hang on to him on a club run! 

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fukawitribe | 5 years ago
5 likes

There was this crash and Paris-Roubaix that I recall him going down in this year - although he's hardly to blame for that last one, crash in the peloton on the cobbles. He's done the Volta ao Argarve, Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour Down Under as well - don't remember hearing of crashes in them but don't really focus on them - it's bike racing, lots of people go down every race, some serious, some not.. certainly don't think G is a "liability" and i'd trust him in a club-run far more than some random club-member to be hones - just seemed like a really random thing to say....

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Morgoth985 | 5 years ago
2 likes
  • I could be limited in my viewing / knowledge, but how many recent races have there been in which Thomas hasn’t crashed?
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fukawitribe | 5 years ago
0 likes

?

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Welsh boy | 5 years ago
3 likes

The man is a liability, you wouldn't want him riding near you on a clubrun would you!

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to Welsh boy | 5 years ago
4 likes
Welsh boy wrote:

The man is a liability, you wouldn't want him riding near you on a clubrun would you!

utterly clueless, I wouldn't trust you to be able to put a tyre on a wheel given your inane bullshit

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Welsh boy replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
4 likes
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Welsh boy wrote:

The man is a liability, you wouldn't want him riding near you on a clubrun would you!

utterly clueless, I wouldn't trust you to be able to put a tyre on a wheel given your inane bullshit

I will put up with your personal and rude post because at the time I saw it my comment had more  thumbs up than your insult. How about keeping comments on topic rather than degrading yourself to making personal comments about people who post views which differ from yours 

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peted76 replied to Welsh boy | 5 years ago
1 like
Welsh boy wrote:
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Welsh boy wrote:

The man is a liability, you wouldn't want him riding near you on a clubrun would you!

utterly clueless, I wouldn't trust you to be able to put a tyre on a wheel given your inane bullshit

I will put up with your personal and rude post because at the time I saw it my comment had more  thumbs up than your insult.

Well isn't this a monday morning treat! 

 

Opinion validated by other people on a forum on a scale of 5 to 2.  That's a scientific monty python fact right there.

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