Tour de France - Geraint Thomas wins some seconds on his rivals: Overall it was a decent day
Jul 12 2019 02:06 am CET
Photo of Geraint Thomas by Team Ineos
Geraint Thomas (Ineos) was the best of the General Classification contenders in the sixth stage of the Tour de France. The rider won some seconds on his direct rivals.
Mikel Landa and Julian Alaphilippe made their moves in the last stretch of the difficult climb of La Planche des Belles Filles, but Thomas also showed that he had the legs to win some time on the competition. He accelerated and left everyone behind, crossing the finish line in the fourth position, one minute and five seconds behind the stage winner Giulio Ciccone, seven seconds ahead of Nairo Quintana and Emanuel Buchmann and nine seconds ahead of his teammate Egan Bernal, Jakob Fuglsang and Landa.
"I felt pretty good," said the winner of the 2018 Tour de France. "I thought it would be a more solid day - it’s never easy, but it was steady for the first three climbs. When Movistar went and Valverde was riding it was solid, I was feeling pretty good - I was just unsure as on those steep climbs I was expecting Richie Porte, Nairo Quintana and obviously Egan to jump up there, so I was hoping for it to be hard all day before that. But it was a good day in the end.
"It’s one of those climbs where you really have to be patient and when Alaphilippe went pretty early, at like 800m to go, I just had to have the confidence to let him go and ride my own tempo and try and ride it all the way to the line. I was starting to blow though as it was solid, overall it was a decent day."
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