Geraint Thomas spoke to the media on Sunday morning, the day after the Rio 2016 Olympic Games road race during which he crashed and lost touch with the lead group. Clearly disappointed at missing out on a medal, he admitted that he hadn’t yet faced looking at the results.
Asked whether he’d watched highlights of the race, Thomas said: “No. It’s too raw, I haven’t even looked at the results.”
The British hope crashed on the final descent, around 10km from the finish of the race, when he was near the front of the race in and with a chance of contesting the finale.
Thomas re-mounted, and managed to finish in 11th place two and a half minutes adrift of gold medallist Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium).
>>> Rio 2016 Olympic Games: Latest news, reports and info
Thomas explained what happened: “I came down and saw [Vincenzo] Nibali had crashed and somebody else [Sergio Henao]… when you saw that, I thought yeah it really is on now. And then it was just trying not to take too many risks and still go down fast but steady.
Geraint Thomas in the mens road race at the 2016 Olympic Games
“Next thing you know I came into that corner a little too fast and the back wheel skipped out on the bumps and that was it. I was down before I knew it and it was all over. It was devastating really.”
Despite Thomas’s mishap, he says that GB had a good race. Team-mate Chris Froome finished just behind him in 12th, with Adam Yates in 15th.
>>> Geraint Thomas may get a place in Olympic time trial due to rider withdrawals
“Yeah we had a good plan and we executed it really well, and if it weren’t for that mistake at the end we would have been right in there fighting for the win. So yeah, Steve [Cummings] and [Ian] Stannard did a great job early on and myself and Adam and Froomey were all there to take a chance and go for it. I think as a team we couldn’t have done any more.”
Thomas said that he hadn’t started the day feeling in top condition, but that he improved as the long, hill-climbed race progressed and he found himself in the lead group.
“I wasn’t too sure early on, at the start of the day I wasn’t feeling too great but then the last time up the climb I was feeling pretty good and I thought, it’s on now, I’ve got a really good chance [to win a medal]. But it didn’t go quite to plan.”
Thomas is currently waiting to hear whether he will be handed a ride in the men’s individual time trial alongside Froome on Wednesday.
