British squad to adopt two-pronged assault on victory
Tuesday 21 April 2015 16:49, UK
Geraint Thomas has revealed he will co-lead Team Sky with Sir Bradley Wiggins at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday and believes a two-pronged attack will maximise their chances of victory.
Wiggins is bidding to win the one-day cobbled classic in his final race for the British squad before leaving to prepare for the 2016 Olympic Games and had been expected to be sole leader.
Thomas, however, has enjoyed an outstanding spring classics campaign, winning E3 Harelbeke and finishing third at Gent-Wevelgem, and revealed that he will benefit from the same level of support as Wiggins.
Both riders will aim to reach the crucial final 50km of the race at the head of the field, and from there the strongest of the two will then go on to bid for victory.
Thomas told skysports.com: “We have both got protected rider status. It’s Paris-Roubaix and a lot can happen, so it’s good to have several options rather than a concrete plan that can’t be adapted.
“The main thing is all of us getting into that last 50km in the best shape and position possible and then making decisions from there. The important thing is to always be on the front foot and that a Team Sky rider ends up on the top step of the podium.”
Paris-Roubaix is the third of the season’s five Monuments – the most prestigious one-day races – and this year takes place on a 253.5km route containing 52.7km of cobbled roads split over 27 sectors.
While Thomas goes into the race having been in good form all season, Wiggins has consistently looked far from his best.
He won the individual time trial at last week’s Three Days of De Panne stage race in Belgium but was well off the pace in all of the classics he has entered so far and finished last week’s Tour of Flanders more than nine minutes down on the winner.
Thomas, however, is confident that the 34-year-old will at produce a much-improved performance on Sunday.
“He is in good shape and he is motivated because he has been targeting this for a long time,” he added. “He has also got a good team around him so I think he is in with a real chance, but like I say, a lot can happen.”
Wiggins will join up with his new team, WIGGINS, after Paris-Roubaix, ending a five-and-a-half-year stay with Team Sky in which he became the first British winner of the Tour de France.
Thomas was a fellow founding member of Team Sky and paid tribute to Wiggins’ contribution to the squad.
He said: “He is a good character to have around the team and obviously on the bike he is a strong bike rider and leader, so he is going to be missed.
"Everything he has achieved has been something I have wanted to do myself. He is a legend and has always been someone who has set the standard.”
Follow Paris-Roubaix with our live blog on Sunday from 12pm BST.
