Ineos Grenadiers Giro d’Italia co-leaders Geraint Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart will not be hitting the panic button after the recent COVID-19 cases in the peloton, underlining their unity and calm on the eve of the Corsa Rosa.
Jumbo-Visma have been struck by three cases of COVID-19 in the last few days, with other riders have been forced to stay at home as the sport realises the global pandemic is not yet over, even if cases have reduced and restrictions have eased.
Thomas and Geoghegan Hart took a resolutely practical attitude to the latest cases when they sat together and spoke about their hopes and ambitions, with Thomas asking rhetorically "What's the point of stressing about it, man?”
“Not particularly” Thomas replied when asked if he was concerned about the three cases in the Jumbo-Visma team.
“It’s the way it was last year. Obviously you have to be careful. But it is what it is. What’s the point of stressing about it man? Just wash your hands, stay away from people and get on with it.”
Geoghegan Hart said that the virus was treated like any other by Ineos Grenadiers.
“This team has spent a lot of time and energy in mitigating any sort of illness, so we’re not going to change our approach,”he said.
“We’re fortunate that so far it’s not come knocking at our door, so let’s try and keep it that way.”
Geoghegan Hart and Thomas have arrived at the Giro d’Italia after very different seasonal trajectories, with the Londoner recently winning the Tour of the Alps and consistent from the word go in 2023, while Thomas has been on something of a rollercoaster due to recurring infections.
“The final week is where it’ll be won and lost,” Thomas pointed out.
“I’m used to sharing leadership and I think we can help each other, we’re not too dissimilar in the way we ride up mountains. It’s a bit of a cliché but once we start racing, we’ll kind of know who’s got the best chance and how we can race as a team.
Racing with a sole leader made for a simpler structure to manage, Thomas agreed, but it carried the inherent risk of placing all of a team’s eggs in one basket.
Thomas has seen and been part of Grand Tour co-leaderships that had been effective in his own case, and others that were not, most notably with Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in Sky.
“I won the Tour when I was leader with Froomey or even ranked slightly below him,” he pointed out, “then for Brad and Froomey it didn’t work, and it wasn’t the best atmosphere. But for us I can’t see an issue,” he said of his teammate.
Geoghegan Hart gave the shortest of shrift to one suggestion that he could be looking to prove in the 2022 Giro that he was “one of the best”.
There had been suggestions in some quarters, the journalist claimed, that Geoghegan Hart had not had to face top-level opposition en route to his victory in the 2020 Giro. Geoghegan Hart’s answer to that particular idea could not have been briefer.
“No,” he said, in disagreement.
While playing a fulsome tribute to his new coach Dajo Sanders and the work they had done together, the Briton seemed determined to downplay the idea that his recent domination of the Tour of the Alps necessarily represented a good omen for the Giro.
“This is another kettle of fish compared to what came before, what happened before next Saturday doesn’t matter,” the former Giro winner argued.
“Just as how you raced on stages one, two or three of a Grand Tour doesn’t mean anything when you’re at stages 18,19 or 20. But I’m looking forward to getting into this race.”
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