Geraint Thomas will return to racing at Benelux Tour after he 'got out of' Tour of Poland
The Welshman has had another season plagued with bad luck
Geraint Thomas was thankful he was able to get out of riding the Tour of Poland as he looks towards his next goals of the Benelux Tour and the World Championships to close out his season.
Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) had another tough ride around the Tour de France where he finished 41st in the final general classification as he suffered from the impact of a crash on stage three of the race.
He went on to crash out of the road race in the Olympics before placing 12th at the time trial in the Games.
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The Welshman was due to be riding the Tour of Poland alongside Polish star Michał Kwiatkowski but he said in a recent Zwift live stream: "I was down to do Poland but I'm glad I got out of that. Afterwards that I’ll do a couple of one-days and then possibly Worlds."
Thomas added that he would be riding the Benelux Tour, formally known as the BinckBank Tour that he jokingly described as "the most dangerous race on the calendar."
Regarding the World Championships, Thomas said he would only want to go the road events in Leuven, Belgium if he is on top form.
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He was then asked if he's at all tempted by the rescheduled Paris-Roubaix in October. He said he does have a "burning desire" to try and win the 'Hell of the North' but won't be racing there this year but "maybe next year".
"I would like to go back but only when I’m actually ready for it and actually good, otherwise you just go there and get a bit of a kicking," Thomas said.
"It’s definitely a mindset thing. You’ve got to be up for it and ready to go. The cobbles are so brutal. If you’re up for it and keen, that’s the main thing. You just go all in and that’s it."
The 35-year-old explained after the Olympics that he wants to take some time for himself saying: "It’s been a super hard five weeks and it just seems to be one thing after the next.
"I tried to stay positive and stay on it, tried to put the hat in the ring and not be scared of failing. It’s just been tough, especially mentally as well. Just need to stay positive and try to keep going."
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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