Thomas and Landa cleared of major injury after Giro d'Italia crash
Team Sky duo to reconsider goals with GC out the window
The second rest day of the 2017 Giro d'Italia came at an opportune time for Team Sky's Geraint Thomas and Mikel Landa, a day after the duo saw their GC hopes go out the window in a crash caused by a police motorbike.
Thomas, leading Sky at a Grand Tour for the first time in his career, was able to remount and finish in 29th place on Blockhaus and slip from second to 17th place overall. Landa, by comparison, shipped almost 27 minutes to stage winner Nairo Quintana and dropped to 44th overall.
Speaking on the rest day ahead of the key stage 10 time trial, Thomas provided an update on his condition post-crash.
"I'm OK and there's nothing broken. I've had a lot worse injuries and I'll be able to get through it. It's not ideal but hopefully it'll be a bit better again tomorrow and I can get stuck in and see what I've got," Thomas said.
Coming into the Giro, Thomas won a stage and the overall at the Tour of the Alps to following on from his stage win and fifth place overall in the spring at Tirreno-Adriatico. However, there was no 'third time lucky' for Thomas in Italy with the crash forcing the Welshman to reconsider his aims for the race.
"There's still a lot of racing to be done, whether I go for trying to improve my GC position all the way through to Milan, or just try and target a couple of stages," Thomas said. "I think just take it day by day at the moment, but certainly go 100% tomorrow (in the time trial)."
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- Robert Millar blog: Rating the Giro d'Italia contenders
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- Giro d'Italia: Rest Day round-up - Podcast
- Dumoulin: If I can take Giro lead on Tuesday, I will
- Quintana: Montefalco time trial will suit the specialists
- Giro d'Italia: Pinot not afraid of the pink jersey
Having finished 15th overall in his two last appearances at the Tour de France, Thomas is still in the frame to record his best Grand Tour result of his career.
While Thomas was only subjected to medical checks, Landa underwent scans on his legs which revealed no major damage for the Spaniard.
"I feel not so bad. I was a little bit scared of how I would feel when I woke up this morning, but I felt better than yesterday so this is a good sign. I will see how I feel again tomorrow morning, but I had a scan and that looks good so for sure I will try to continue," Landa said. "If I am able I want to find a new motivation and try to use this good condition that I have."
During a rest day ride, the 27-year-old posted a video on Twitter with an update on his condition.
"After a morning of tests in which we ruled out any kind of serious injury, I'm out for a ride to see if the pain is bearable or not. It seems like everything is alright, so the objective now is to try to make it through tomorrow and Wednesday and above all to think about the final week, which could be beautiful. Many thanks to everyone. You've sent me many messages of support and you've given me a lot of strength to keep going."
For a comprehensive preview of the stage 10 time trial, click here.