Geraint Thomas Aims To Keep Primoz Roglic Behind Him As Giro Reaches Business End

By David Williams

Geraint Thomas will bid to strengthen his grip on the leader’s pink jersey on stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia on Friday.

On his 37th birthday, on Thursday, the Welsh superstar was able to follow a late move from Primoz Roglic on the approach to Val di Zoldo as Joao Almeida dropped back, and the two then worked together to keep the Portuguese behind and take 20 seconds out of him, enough to see Roglic move up to second.

With one mountain stage to come and a mountainous time trial before Sunday’s finale in Rome, Thomas leads by 29 seconds from Roglic with Almeida 39 seconds in arrears.

“It was a decent day,” Thomas said. “To gain time on Almeida and not get dropped by Primoz, it was a good day, a solid day for sure. I felt pretty good, pretty in control.

“Primoz, he likes to go hard, then take it easy, then go hard. I gave him a few turns, then I wasn’t sure how he was feeling. In the last two kilometres he really squeezed on it again, he was super strong, but I was pretty happy with how it was.

“Obviously it’s nice (to gain time) but Primoz had a bad day the other day and Almeida did today. I’ve just got to keep being consistent day by day, climb by climb.”