Geraint Thomas will ride both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in 2024 for Ineos Grenadiers, in what's set to be his 18th year in the professional peloton.
Speaking during a live Q&A session with Matt Stephens on Instagram on Wednesday, Thomas confirmed that he will return to the Italian Grand Tour in May. He narrowly missed out on the victory to Primož Roglič by just 14 seconds last year.
After the Giro, Thomas is due to head to the Tour in July. He has done the double once before, in 2017, when he failed to finish either race. The Welshman then won the Tour the following year.
In his most recent appearance at the French Grand Tour, he finished third behind Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar in 2022.
"I'm basically going to ride the Giro and the Tour,” he said. “I really wanted to go back to the Giro after last year and give it one big go, and obviously the Tour, I didn't like missing it last year. So I'm going to try and stay on it and go in to the Tour and try to get the best result, or go into it in the best shape."
Thomas signed a two-year contract extension with Ineos at the end of last season after his solid performance in the Giro. The Welshman was ahead on GC before the penultimate day, but dramatically lost the maglia rosa to Roglič on the stage 20 mountain time trial on the slopes of Monte Lussari.
This time round he’ll face Tadej Pogačar in Italy, who is also confirmed for the Giro as well as the Tour de France this year.
"It's going to be a massive challenge," he added. "Because I've never done it before. I did it in '17 but crashed out of both, so hopefully, it will be a bit better than that. It's a big challenge, it's my 18th year as a professional so I need to mix it up a bit, I find. It's something which will certainly get me out of bed in the morning.”
As well as his Grand Tour ambitions, Thomas also revealed the rest of his full racing programme for the season ahead. The 37-year-old will get his campaign underway at the Volta ao Algarve on 14 February. Tom Pidcock is also down to start the Portuguese stage race.
He said: "I'm going to start with Algarve at the minute, and then basically the same run-in as I had last year. So [Volta a] Catalunya, Sierra Nevada as an altitude camp, [Tour of the] Alps and Giro.
“So it's maybe like 17 days of racing going into the Giro, so not a hell of a lot for obvious reasons really, because by the time you get to the Tour, you don't want to have 50-odd days in you."
Thomas explained that Dave Brailsford played a key role in him deciding to ride both Grand Tours.
"Dave Brailsford was making the call and he left it to the team to discuss and debate, and then we'd decide. It got to a stage where I was just like, 'can we just decide now please,'" Thomas joked.
"It had always been in the back of my mind going back to the Giro since last year really," he added. "Then speaking to the team, they were still keen for me to go to the Tour. So then it was kind of just like, 'Why don't we just try and do both?'"
Brailsford recently stepped back from direct involvement with the cycling team after the Ineos Group added Manchester United to its wider sport portfolio. He is expected to eventually join the board of the football club.
However, he will still have some input in his role as Ineos' director of sport. This was further underlined by Ineos Grenadiers new CEO, John Allert, in a video call with press on Tuesday.
Allert said: “Dave is the godfather of the team and he’s the founder of the team. It’s a privilege that he’s still accessible to the team. He clearly has responsibilities across several sports, and not just cycling.
“Although Dave has greater bandwidth than anyone I’ve ever worked with, his first and primary focus is on a variety of sports teams.
"Clearly, he has a passion and proven track record for cycling, so don’t ever be surprised to see him come on race but he won’t be at races to mark our homework.
"He’ll be coming on race to help the team, as he does all the teams."
