03 Jun 2021
Late attack seals Thomas victory
Related riders
Geraint Thomas
Critérium du Dauphiné stage five: Saint-Chamond › Saint-Vallier, 175.4km.
Geraint Thomas launched an audacious late attack to catch a reduced peloton off-guard to win stage five of the Critérium du Dauphiné.
With just over a kilometre remaining, Thomas attacked out of a tight right turn, stealing a march on the chasing pack in a technical finish, leaving the chasing pack scrambling to close the gap.
Sonny Colbrelli was the only rider close to catching him, with Thomas edging the onrushing Bahrain Victorious man on the line to secure his first stage win of the season to move up into the top 10 overall.
Thomas rounded off what had been a strong team performance with the win, after the Grenadiers had come to the fore on the final category climb, brining the break to heel and setting a pace to deter many counter-attacks.
The team then led the peloton around a twisty final run-in and as the sprinters' teams slowing for a tight hairpin, Thomas launched the decisive move and held on for a memorable victory.
With just over a kilometre remaining, Thomas attacked out of a tight right turn, stealing a march on the chasing pack in a technical finish, leaving the chasing pack scrambling to close the gap.
Sonny Colbrelli was the only rider close to catching him, with Thomas edging the onrushing Bahrain Victorious man on the line to secure his first stage win of the season to move up into the top 10 overall.
Thomas rounded off what had been a strong team performance with the win, after the Grenadiers had come to the fore on the final category climb, brining the break to heel and setting a pace to deter many counter-attacks.
The team then led the peloton around a twisty final run-in and as the sprinters' teams slowing for a tight hairpin, Thomas launched the decisive move and held on for a memorable victory.
Reaction
Geraint Thomas
“It wasn’t planned, I knew that Bahrain didn’t have any guys left as they'd been riding. I knew it was all lined out and I knew the last turns were a bit twisty, so I thought sod it, just go for it. I went with a kilometre to go, the boys said on the radio that ‘I’d got a gap and I went all in.
Geraint Thomas
“It wasn’t planned, I knew that Bahrain didn’t have any guys left as they'd been riding. I knew it was all lined out and I knew the last turns were a bit twisty, so I thought sod it, just go for it. I went with a kilometre to go, the boys said on the radio that ‘I’d got a gap and I went all in.
“To be honest I didn’t think I had that on the line, I just sat up two metres before to give it the big ‘boom’ and I saw Colbrelli came by so fast he nearly took my helmet off! But it was great, really nice to get that win for sure.
“It was definitely disappointing yesterday [in the time trial], it was a combination of not great legs and but also riding it really badly and dying in the second half completely where you need to be strongest but it was nice to bounce back today.
"I'm looking forward to the mountains now, it’ll be a good test. Fuel up now, plenty of rice and see how we go."
