Giro d’Italia 2020 – Bradley Wiggins: 'Ineos and Geraint Thomas are on a mission'

Published 04/10/2020 at 19:09 GMT

Veterans Vincenzo Nibali, Jakob Fuglsang and Steven Kruijswijk will challenge British duo Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates for the maglia rosa over the course of three weeks of Grand Tour racing in October – but don't discount the youngsters or outsiders in the Giro d'Italia's battle for pink.

Geraint Thomas, Filippo Ganna - Giro d'Italia 2020, stage 2 - Getty Images

Image credit: Getty Images

Bradley Wiggins says that Ineos look a team reborn just two days into the Giro d'Italia.

Filippo Ganna will again wear the leader's jersey for Ineos in Monday's Stage Three, while Geraint Thomas has moved into the podium positions after the opening weekend and is the highest ranked general classification rider in the race so far.

"Ineos have put themselves back on the map," Wiggins said.

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"People were asking questions after the Tour de France, about team selection of course, but they’ve come back now and Geraint Thomas looks like a man who’s ready to go."

"Their presence at the front today, riding on the front and taking up that responsibility, it’s what they’re used to doing," Wiggins continued. "They are a team on a mission now. There was uncertainty going into the Tour with Bernal’s back injury and whether they’d made the right selections, but now Geraint is ready to go.

"They’ve got the pink jersey but they are also riding for Geraint as well. With Thomas as a leader, putting his money where his mouth is on that time trial, they’re going to grow in confidence.

"It’s actually quite good to watch. We perhaps didn’t have the same energy watching the Tour de France because we were cheering on cyclists who weren’t home riders and we’ve become used to doing that over the years. But somehow cheering on one of our best cyclists ever in Geraint Thomas… it’s a joy to watch."