Relaxed yet ready, Geraint Thomas has half an eye on reclaiming his Tour de France crown

Updated 14/05/2020 at 15:22 GMT

The 2018 Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas talks to Eurosport about his life in lockdown and why he expects this year's Tour de France to be even more entertaining than usual.

Geraint Thomas at the Tour de France

Image credit: Getty Images

Geraint Thomas has surely never been accused of being uptight. But even by his standards the Welshman is so relaxed he’s near-on horizontal as he chats to Eurosport from aboard his garage-based turbo trainer.

“To be honest I’ve quite enjoyed it in a weird way,” he replies when asked about the postponement of the season and an enforced coronavirus lockdown.

That might seem like a strange reaction to a turn of events that tore up his plans and put his 2020 preparations back to square one, but ‘G’ makes a good case for the positives.

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“I have got to spend time with my son who is 7 months old now, which I never would have got before.

My daily routine hasn’t really changed, because when I’m training I don’t really socialise much, I’m not going out for food every other night or going to friends. I just train, go home, eat, recover and repeat so I’m used to that, used to not seeing my family and friends back in Cardiff because I live away for 11 months of the year. So all that has helped I guess.

Thomas had made no secret of the fact that his primary aim for 2020 had been a tilt at regaining the Tour de France title. A bid for Olympic gold may have also been in the mix, but with the Tokyo Games now scheduled for the summer of 2021 he is free to focus solely on the maillot jaune.

While a date has of course been set for the Tour to begin on August 27, there is still a chance of further complications to the calendar due to coronavirus, and in any case Thomas believes it is too soon to solely focus on Tour preparations if he is to reach the start line in tip-top condition.

“The main thing for me has been staying fresh mentally and I’m just ready to start going again,” he says.

“Obviously the Tour now has a date at the end of August, but it’s still about 15 weeks away so that’s a hell of a long time to wait, so I need to stay fresh mentally then really knuckle down when it matters, not burning all your matches now.”

Geraint Thomas on lockdown life and why the Tour will be more exciting than ever

If the UCI’s plans proceed as they are, riders will have the chance to gear up for the Tour in Poland at the start of August and at a rearranged Dauphine. But as Thomas says with a slight smile, “there’s still question marks over them, still question marks over everything really”.

Assuming the calendar does now roll-out as scheduled, Thomas believes that the Tour could see an extremely exciting second half, with riders having trained hard to get themselves in shape, but without the race miles in their legs that you would expect in a ‘normal’ season.

“I think recons and training camps may be jeopardised with travel restrictions, so it’s a totally different build up to the Tour," the 33-year-old says.

"That last week will be certainly exciting for people to watch. I think people might be going really well for the first 10 days or so, but without that chunk of racing, it depends what training they’ve been doing, but I think that last week will see a lot of people blowing up.”

Team Ineos aren’t exactly short of lead options, with Egan Bernal looking to defend his title and already making noises that he won’t be best-pleased if forced into a supporting role during the race.

And, of course, there is the likely presence of Chris Froome going for what would be an iconic fifth victory.

So, does Thomas think he will get the chance to go all out for the win?

As ever with Ineos he gives a grin and keeps his cards close to his chest. We will see.

Tour de France