Thomas builds form at Tirreno

Ineos man fine-tuning another tilt at the Tour

- James Shrubsall, Jonny Long, Vern Pitt

Geraint Thomas has declared himself more than satisfied with his performance at last week’s Tirreno-Adriatico, where he was able to duke it out with the favourites in some hard terrain as he builds towards an assault on the Tour de France this summer.

After stage four’s summit finish at Prato di Tivo, won by Tadej Pogacar(UAE-Team Emirates) the Ineos Grenadiers rider found himself in 10th place overall, 1-25 behind the reigning Tour champion, who was also leading the GC.

Speaking after the stage he said: “I’m better than I expected [I would be] here. In January I was just sort of riding around Gran Canaria, getting the hours in, not too much intensity, so I’ve already moved on a lot this past month and it’s nice just to be in the mix and just race a bit differently.”

Tirreno is the Welshman’s third stage race this year – he has already ridden the Etoile de Bessèges and the Tour des Alpes Martimes et du Var, coming 49th and 26th overall respectively.