Geraint Thomas was left frustrated about finishing fifth overall at Tirreno-Adriatico on Tuesday, knowing he could have been on the final podium and even fighting with Nairo Quintana for the victory.
Thomas and Team Sky were expected to gain time on their rivals in the opening team time trial, race hard and limit any time losses on the queen mountain stage to Terminillo before hoping to pull back seconds in the final 10km time trial. Thomas eventually finished fifth on GC but without losing 1:20 to Quintana in the team time trial due to three front wheel failures, his Tirreno-Adriatico could have and probably would been a very different race.
"Waking up this morning it hit me, I could've been up for the win today," Thomas said as he cooled down on the rollers after is time trial ride. The normally easy-going Thomas was annoyed that the wheel disaster may have cost him a shot at the overall.
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"Obviously, the race might have been different had I been closer, but I'm pretty confident that that if I could've had the time that I was behind him (Quintana) in the mountains going into today, then I would've been going for the win. I might not have gone for the win on the first stage, but then I could have had a bit more at stake later in the race. You just don't know. It's a big shame, because opportunities like that don't come very often and you need to take them when you can. That's the way it goes, isn't it."
The math backs Thomas' projection. He and Team Sky lost 1:20 in the team time trial. He gained 19 seconds while winning stage 2, lost 28 seconds to Quintana on stage 3 and then gained 25 seconds in the time trial. He finished 58 seconds behind the Colombian in the overall classification.
"I was fifth overall and I definitely could've been higher, that was nothing to do with form or legs, just bad luck – it's encouraging," he said.
Learning how to race Quintana, learning for the Giro d'Italia
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