Geraint Thomas said No to Tour de France and Yes to London Olympics
Welsh professional cyclist, Geraint Thomas is keen to ride at his home Olympics 2012. He mentioned that riding at the London Olympics is his biggest aim for the 2012 season.
The 25-year-old is ready to sacrifice the coming Tour de France to ensure his best preparation for the Olympics. He will ride at the Giro d’ Italia 2012 and the World Track Championships to prepare for the Olympics.
The cyclist told cycling news, “My best opportunity to win a gold medal in London is if I don’t ride the Tour because there would be quite a short turn around to get back up to speed on the track”.
Thomas is the first British rider who has decided to skip the Tour de France. He believes that missing the French Grand Tour will place him in a better position to perform well in front of the home crowd.
Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish are the other two cyclists with strong chances of winning the gold at the Olympics but both have chosen to race in France.
Geraint joined Team Sky in 2010 and will continue with the team for the third consecutive season.
Thomas won the yellow jersey at the Bayern-Rundfahrt 2011 as he finished 3rd at stage 2 and 5th at stage 5 of the Tour de France 2011. He kept the young rider’s jersey from stage 1 to 7 and also won the Combativity award at stage 12
of the Tour this year.
The cyclist also mentioned that Tour de France takes place every year. However, the Olympics in London are not likely to come again in his career.
He briefed that the decision to skip the Tour was not easy and took great consideration but he has finally decided to ride on his home turf.
Geraint stated, “The way the team pursuit is, it’s super fast and to give myself the best opportunity in London, the Giro would be the better preparation, similar to what I did before Beijing”.
Team Sky has not yet finalised the cyclist’s plans for the 2012 season but it is believed that he might have to miss the Classics because of his Olympics preparations.
Thomas is the first cyclist who has announced that he will miss the Tour de France for the Olympics, as it is quite hard to participate in the Tour and the Olympics at the same time.
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