Team News – Top 10 for Geraint Thomas despite crash

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Welsh rider Geraint Thomas was eighth in the Tour of Flanders despite a bad crash midway through the race

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Team News – Top 10 for Geraint Thomas despite crash

Thomas was sent tumbling on the approach to the cobbled Padderstraat climb and took a knock to his back and face before being guided back into the peloton. It was his second crash of the Spring Classics campaign following his fall at Gent-Wevelgem and comes just over a month after another heavy tumble at Paris-Nice robbed him of a potential race victory.

Thomas admitted to TeamSky.com he had considered abandoning the race at one point: “My back is a bit sore after my tumble. It happened when I was taking a drink, everybody slammed on their breaks in front of me. Because I had a bottle in my hand, I could only grab my front break and hit a central reservation before falling on to my face.

“I felt terrible for the rest of the race. When you hurt your back, you lose a lot of your power and I didn’t feel very solid on the bike. That said, still being able to finish in the top 10 after all that was pretty pleasing, especially because I almost got off the bike at one point. The boys rode really well to get me back into the race. Eddy was really strong and Brad did a lot of work for me.”

“At the end, me and Eddy were taking it in turns to follow the moves and when I couldn’t hang on to the wheels on the Taainberg, Eddy stayed ahead to keep us on the front foot. When the groups came back together, I’d just finished a turn and was towards the back of the group when Cancellara made his move. I didn’t have the legs to go with him after the day I’d had – and the efforts I’d just made – but considering how I felt, I’m pleased to have been able to stay with Boonen until the finish.”

“I think we can take a lot from today’s performance,” he added. “Gabba [Rasch] crashed as well today but I’m sure we’ll be good to go again for Roubaix next week. I think that race suits our team better than Flanders, so if we can stay out of trouble, we’ll be looking for a good result there.”

 

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