Ineos Grenadiers known as it a ‘gutsy trip to the end’, as Geraint Thomas crashed within the remaining third of stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse and teammates helped him to reconnect to the peloton for the hilly end of the 195.6km route.
It was a ‘slow-motion’ spill with slightly below 60km to trip when the peloton approached a slim left-hand bend a couple of kilometres earlier than the bonification seconds on the Tissot dash at Magdalenau. Thomas was the one rider to go down, apparently a self-inflicted crash as he hit the sting of the pavement.
“I simply hit a lip on the facet of the street, actually. It is my fault,” he advised SRF on the end in Heiden.
“Then I simply form of obtained my foot caught behind me, and I twisted my knee and my hamstring, and it was a lifeless leg. I struggled to only bend it for the primary minute or so, however then, yeah, as soon as I obtained on the bike and obtained rolling, it freed up a bit.”
He was again on his bike somewhat shortly, with a race medical automotive checking on his standing within the subsequent kilometre. From there, Bob Jungels, Andrew ‘AJ’ August, and Lucas Hamilton labored to carry him again into the principle group. Nonetheless, Thomas appeared to wrestle a bit within the subsequent 10km on the method to the Appenzell climb.
With 35km remaining, a quartet of riders – Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Samuele Battistella (EF Schooling-EasyPost), Brent Van Moer (Lotto) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) – solid forward on the entrance of the race, with Thomas, August and Jungels in a bunch 1:45 again.
With 20km to go, Simmons launched his solo assault for the win. Riders have been scattered throughout these remaining kilometres as two categorised climbs threw up a troublesome end for the day. August and Jungles remained with their staff chief, crossing the uphill end within the massive group 15:01 behind solo winner.
“Yeah, only a bit sore, the muscle tissues and stuff a bit strained. Nevertheless it’s all OK,” Thomas summed as much as SRF on the finish of his day.
The general winner of Tour de Suisse in 2022, Thomas used the eight-day stage race that yr to place him into high type for the Tour de France, the place he completed third general. That is the Welshman’s first return to the Swiss stage race for the reason that success three years in the past.
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