Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) finished an impressive second on the first uphill finish of the Tour of the Alps, happy to have the legs and the courage to ride aggressively after a month away from racing and a block of hard altitude training in his legs.
Team Sky has only six riders at the Tour of the Alps – two fewer than every other team – but they protected Thomas on the fast run-in to the climb to the finish above Innsbruck and then Thomas made a strong move with two kilometres to go. His surge split the reduced peloton, with only Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2r La Mondiale) and Michele Scarponi (Astana) able to go with him. Other riders came back up to the trio in sight of the line but Scarponi kicked early, and Thomas was unable to come past him.
Time bonuses mean that Scarponi leads Thomas by four seconds but the Welshman was happy with his result and especially his form.
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"I was a bit heavy legged at the start and wasn't sure how I was going to feel. But when you get in the finale, you get in race mode and so switch off a bit," Thomas said as he warmed down on the rollers post stage.
"I had a good camp in Tenerife and I wasn't sure I was going to be here because we did a big workload. We also did two days of recon and three or four hours in the car on Saturday and Sunday."
Thomas opted to ride all out for victory rather than play tactical games. He seemed set to win the stage but then Scarponi came past him, desperate to win and desperate to finally take Astana's first road race win of 2017.
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