This is clearly not the position Geraint Thomas would have hoped to be in after the first rest day of the Vuelta a España – sitting more than 12 minutes down in 22nd position on GC, with two of his team's climbers out after nasty crashes and also with the telltale signs of his own evident. However, the experienced campaigner is not ready to give up despite the ominous beginnings.
“Up and down," was how Thomas described the first nine stages in a rest day interview shared by his Ineos Grenadiers team. "Mainly down, on the floor as much as anything else, but it's been a tough week for the team, obviously me personally as well. But losing two of our climbers as well is certainly not ideal with the terrain we have had and got to come."
The team is now down to six riders, with Laurens De Plus the first to leave the race after crashing in the wet opening time trial while Thymen Arensman also had to leave when a frightening crash on stage 7 made a tough beginning even harder.
"This is one to try and put behind us now and try and be positive and move on and look at opportunities for the rest of the race," said Thomas, who last raced the Vuelta in 2015.
"There are still a lot of chances and we have still got a good team and we still potentially can do something good. It's just keeping morale up now and, as I said, staying positive and seeing what we can do."
Positive thinking, however, is unlikely to bring the overall podium back into reach with the combination of time losses, crashes and missing teammates hard not to see as a fatal blow for those ambitions. However, there are still plenty of stages to come that could see the team salvage some Vuelta success.
"We are just going to have to take every day as it comes," said Thomas. "The GC kind of just – well you never say it's totally over because one break away and you can kind of be back in the mix – but I'd say the podium is out a long way off now and I think it's more about re-focussing and looking at each day as it comes.
"With the sprints, you never know with [Filippo Ganna]. He's got a massive engine, and then all the other days I think we just need to be aggressive and be on it and try to take the opportunities that are out there.”
The wait for the first of those opportunities, too, is not likely to be long as Ganna is among the favourites for the stage, the 25.8km time trial from Valladolid.
A key rival for the win is likely to be Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) who he came second to at the World Championships time trial, with the Belgian not having more than just stage victory in his sights but it also provides a crucial opportunity to pull back time on his overall rivals, particularly given a number of those are showing considerable team strength.
Jumbo-Visma has Sepp Kuss in the red jersey of race leader as well as Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard in the top ten, while it is also a top ten trio for UAE Team Emirates with Marc Soler, Juan Ayuso and João Almeida.
“Obviously Jumbo are the stand-out team at the moment," said Thomas. "The way they've been riding all year really. They are just on that crest of a wave and everything is going right for them at the minute so they are obviously in a commanding position but UAE are looking strong behind them so we will see how that goes.
"I think it will be a big effort to take over from Jumbo but Remco is in the mix as well and I certainly wouldn't write him out.”
