Geraint Thomas said he couldn’t watch the Giro d’Italia 2020, because it was still “too raw” after his crash in the first week.
Thomas had been the pre-race favourite to win the Italian Grand Tour, before his hopes went up in smoke when he crashed hard on the way to Mount Etna on stage four.
Despite losing their leader, Ineos Grenadiers still dominated the Giro, winning seven stages and unexpectedly taking the overall with Tao Geoghegan Hart.
In his column for The Telegraph newspaper, 2018 Tour de France winner Thomas said: “I could not bring myself to watch. I was still too raw.
“I felt like I was in the form of my life, even better than when I won the Tour in 2018. That was the hardest thing - that I didn’t get to show anyone that.”
But Thomas was full of praise for his 25-year-old team-mate, and fellow Arsenal supporter, Geoghegan Hart, who took the 2020 Giro d’Italia title in the final stage time trial.
Geoghegan Hart took his first Grand Tour stage win in this year's Giro on stage 15, then followed up with another stage on day 20, before taking the pink jersey by 39 seconds over Sunweb's Jai Hindley.
Thomas complimented the London-born rider for his level-headedness, his interests outside of cycling, and his composure in the final week of the Giro when the possibility of taking the pink jersey became more and more possible.
Welshman Thomas has returned home to Wales to recover from his injuries and a tough 2020 season, which saw him miss out on Tour de France selection and then crash out of the Giro without getting a chance to show his form.
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He added that he has his eyes on the Olympics in 2021, as well as the Tour, while he also wants to settle his still unsettled business with the Giro d’Italia.
