Geraint Thomas was the last rider to arrive at the Team Sky bus and was the last off to leave for home, but it was not supposed to be that way in Italy's Milan-San Remo classic today. Thomas fell in a pile-up 30 kilometres from the finish and before the Cipressa climb.
The recent Paris-Nice winner landed on his hip and showed just a spot of blood on his right side, but explained that he is okay.
"I hit my left side, I went down on a bit of a lip," Thomas told Cycling Weekly.
"I was just out of position a bit, so I was moving up on the right, and the next thing you know, everyone has crashed in front of me. I braked and manage to cut off most of my speed, but there was nowhere to go with a big wall and drain to the side. I hit my hip, but I'm fine really."
Thomas began the 295-kilometre monument as one of Sky's leaders. He and Kwiatkowski were due to strike on the Poggio climb to win or to allow Ben Swift to sit back. Kwiatkowski did so regardless with a solo move and Swift followed through with second place behind Frenchman Arnaud Démare (FDJ).
Geraint Thomas and Steve Cummings in the 2016 Milan-San Remo
(Image credit: Watson)
"I was going to go a bit earlier maybe [than Kwiatkowski] and try to draw everyone out, and make it hard for the bottom. Obviously to have my chance, but then if I came back, he was going to hit over. Still, it was great to see Swifty get a result because he deserves that," Thomas said.
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He pointed down to his right side where he landed and finished eating a Quinoa mix Sky’s team helpers prepared while he showered.
"It's annoying," Thomas added. "You spend all day eating and just staying out of the wind, and the next thing you know, you don't get to race when it happens."
Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.
