Sky’s Geraint Thomas not distracted from Giro prep despite scrutiny surrounding team

MILAN — Geraint Thomas was the picture of poise while addressing media at the Tour of the Alps this week. The 30-year-old Welshman patiently answered every question thrown at him during pre-race interviews and post-race press conferences.

It helped that the Team Sky captain was on the winning end of a stage en route to an overall victory at the respected Giro d’Italia primer race formerly known as Giro del Trentino. Thomas has shown both maturity and focus while his team is under extreme media scrutiny and a UK Anti-Doping investigation for alleged “wrongdoing” regarding a mystery package delivered for then-teammate Bradley Wiggins prior to the 2011 Tour de France, which the former British Cycling chief and current Team Sky general manager Dave Brailsford has repeatedly denied.

While British Cycling has announced it will review its medical practices following the fallout from the enquiry, for the time being it has been business as usual for Team Sky as it proceeds with its 2017 season with the first Grand Tour of the calendar on deck.

With the start of the 100th edition of the Giro d’Italia less than two weeks away, Thomas, who along with other team riders publicly showed support towards the beleaguered Sky GM on social media last month, says he has been unfazed by all the question marks surrounding the team as he prepares to race his first grand tour as a leader.

“To be honest, I’ve kind of been in my own little world, my own little bubble really and been super focused on the Giro,” Thomas told Eurosport after his Alps victory on Friday. “I spent whole month of January in Australia and then South Africa, so you are kind of away from it, as well as I haven’t raced in Europe until Tirreno, and that helps.”

Eurosport asked Thomas if he had concerns regarding possible distractions for his preparations to lead the team.

“No at all,” said Thomas. “Obviously it has got something to do with the team, but other than that it’s other people involved. Like I said, I’m trying not to stress about it and leave it alone. What will happen will happen. I’m just concentrating on myself.”

Having already recorded a stage win and a fifth-place result at Tirreno-Adriatico in March, the 2016 Paris-Nice winner and two-time Volta ao Algarve champion, says his most recent performance has given him confidence for his biggest test to date.

“There was no better way to finish up this setup for the Giro,” said Thomas of his seven-second Tour of the Alps win over stage 5 winner Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and 2012 race winner Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale).

“It was a great race, sure we were put under pressure at times but I could rely on a strong team, with Mikel Landa playing an incredible role in the last couple of days.

“At the Giro we will share the leader’s role, we will back each other and in the end we’ll see who’s got the best chances.”

Even with the help of his 27-year-old Spanish teammate, who took two stages and third place on general classification at the Giro in 2015, the Olympic track gold medallist-turned-roadie is clearly stepping into virgin territory entering a Grand Tour as a GC contender.

Switching to stage racing is admittedly a big step for the former one-day Classics specialist and 2015 winner of E3 Harelbeke.

“Taking the race and managing to defend a lead for two days was certainly a morale boost and a good indication for the Giro, but a three weeks race is an all different story,” explained Thomas. “At the Giro, I could take advantage of time trials, provided that I haven’t lost too much efficiency in the quest to improve on climbs, but it’s hard to tell how I could perform on something like the final day of the Giro.

“Tour of the Alps is a beautiful and hard race,” he concluded. “And now I feel it was certainly the ideal choice to race it ahead of the Giro d’Italia.”

Unfortunately, Thomas was not able to savour the win for long after news broke on the tragic death of former Giro winner Michele Scarponi on Saturday. The 37-year-old had just been named Astana’s leader for the Giro following an injury to Fabio Aru, and kicked of the Tour of the Alps with his first win since 2013.

Thomas immediately took to social media to send his condolences.

“Devastated to hear the news about Scarponi. Can’t believe it. My thoughts with all his friends, family and team,” he tweeted.

With both the race and tragedy now behind him, Thomas heads back to his home training grounds in Monaco for the final two weeks of Giro preparations.