Chris Froome will keep improving from Tirreno-Adriatico until the Giro d’Italia in May, says Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas.
Froome faded on the summit finish to Sassotetto and lost 20 seconds in the final time trial to finish 34th overall on Tuesday. Team Sky dominated the race with Michal Kwiatkowski the winner and Thomas third after a chain problem cost him time.
“Froomey will just get better all the time now,” Thomas told Cycling Weekly.
“He’s such a class rider that another camp in Tenerife, plus another race in the Tour of Alps he’ll be on good form again. If he rides into form throughout the Giro d’Italia, I guess is good for him looking ahead to the Tour de France. There’s no stress on his side.”
Froome has two months before the Giro d’Italia begins on May 4 in Jerusalem. He is taking aim at the Giro/Tour in 2018 after winning the Tour and Vuelta a España in 2017. Prior to the Giro d’Italia, Froome will race the Tour of the Alps in Italy and Austria, a race Thomas won in 2017 when he prepared for the Giro.
Froome struggled to make a major impact on the 2018 edition of Tirreno-Adriatico (Sunada)
In the background, he and Team Sky are dealing with his salbutamol case from the Vuelta. It is not yet known when the case could be heard and if Froome will face a suspension.
Thomas is building to be the co-leader and B plan for the Tour de France in July. This year, he will skip the Giro to be ready for the Tour in July and later the Vuelta.
“I’m pleasantly surprised how I’m going,” continued Thomas. “I know I’ve said it and I know people don’t believe me, but I’m taking it easy this year. I’ve trained hard, but just haven’t been 100%. I’ll take that next step now and knuckle down and keep pushing to July.”
Had it not been for the jammed chain on the summit finish at Sassotetto, Thomas could have won the Tirreno-Adriatico overall. On the final day, his time trial saw him overtake Mikel Landa (Movistar) and move to third overall.
“I don’t look into that too much [at my rivals] because everyone is so different, but for sure it’s nice to be there in the front climbing with everyone. The majority of the guys are here who’s going to be in the Tour,” Thomas said.
“I feel I have a way to go, I’m sure they do to, but it’s nice to have that little advantage at the moment. The Yates [Adam and Simon] are on it, they always seem to be, the rest… No one else really stands out.”
Thomas will train at Tenerife and then parachute in for Paris-Roubaix in northern France, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour de Romandie.
“Roubaix is kind of more for… Well, it’s Roubaix, and it’s such a good race to do and I can help [Gianni] Moscon and [Ian] Stannard, and it’s also good for the Tour,” added Thomas.
“I’ll have an easy week after Romandie and get back into it again. I definitely have quite a bit of headroom now, a lot of weight to shift and I haven’t really done any threshold efforts yet, so there’s a lot to come.”
