Tour de France 2019 news - 'I felt stuck between a rock and a hard place,' admits Geraint Thomas
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Updated 21/07/2019 at 20:44 GMT
Geraint Thomas admits he felt "stuck between a rock and a hard place" after failing to take full advantage of the first sign of cracks in Julian Alaphilippe’s bid to be crowned Tour de France champion.
Tour de France : Interview Geraint Thomas
Image credit: Eurosport
Simon Yates won the 15th stage, a 185-km mountain trek from Limoux, while Frenchman Thibaut Pinot emerged as the strongest main contender after the Pyrenean leg of the race on Sunday.
Alaphilippe was among those dropped but he retained the overall leader's yellow jersey. The Frenchman has one minute 35 seconds on Thomas, who concedes he was faced with a dilemma in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
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Geraint Thomas: ‘My legs were good… I wanted to go earlier’
He told reporters afterwards: "I felt better than yesterday - I just tried to pace it when it all kicked off. It was a bit of a shame because I got a bit stuck behind Alaphilippe, and I obviously didn't want to pull with him in the wheel, so we let him ride a bit and then jumped with about 2km to go.
"It's a difficult one, really. Tactics-wise, I wanted to go and I had the legs to go, but obviously I wasn't going to chase down Egan [Bernal] with the guys in the wheel, but it was a decent day.
It's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, really. I had to just wait a few kms and give Pinot time, but at least the legs are responding a bit better.
Yates won from the day's breakaway, 33 seconds ahead of Pinot whose attack seven kilometres from the finish in the final ascent to the Prat d'Albis blew away the favourites' group.
"For sure, he's going really well," Thomas added when asked about Pinot. "There's still a lot of guys who are still going strong.
"It was a solid start, and it's just such a mental game, now. Everyone’s good and everyone's tired, but you just have to try and block that out.
"It's easy to think about last year, and to think of all the good times, thinking that I should be floating, but I was suffering at times then as well, so I just need to bite the bullet and dig in.
I felt good, and maybe I should've gone a bit earlier. But I knew the climb, I knew it levelled out, and I knew I'd be able to get the power out and drive it to the line.
Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) stormed to his second stage win in four days, but all the drama was unfolding behind him as Pinot of Groupama-FDJ built on his triumph on the Tourmalet.
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Highlights: First cracks appear in Alaphilippe’s yellow armour
According to Sir Bradley Wiggins, Thomas’ admittance that felt strong enough to chase down Bernal - who finished in fifth - has left questions open for Team Ineos.
“What was going on there?" he pondered on Eurosport. "Where was the communication coming from? Why was Bernal there if Thomas was feeling as good as he was? They kind of messed up in some ways, but where does that call come from?
Does it come from G or does it come from the car behind? Bernal should’ve been there with G, really. He will continue to limit his losses, he got dropped early on that climb, but he was time trialling to the summit.
“He finished ahead of Alaphilippe, so he rode the climb the best of all of them – including Bernal. I’d like to know what was going on there, if G is the team leader.
“He’s the defending Tour champion, and he wasn’t able to attack because his team-mate was in front, who’s two or three minutes behind him.”
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