Geraint Thomas is honest about his opinion on the new UCI rules: "This will greatly impact stress levels!"

Geraint Thomas is currently, after a successful Giro d'Italia, already preparing for another grand tour: the Tour de France. In his podcast Watts Occuring, the Welshman discussed the upcoming race. "Things are going well here," he said about the high-altitude training at Isola 2000. "We've been here about ten days, working towards the Tour."

In the Tour, Thomas will start in an INEOS Grenadiers team that is betting on multiple riders. A former teammate of Thomas, Adam Yates, is in top form heading into the Tour. And that was not predicted by G. "I owe him an apology. I had bet on Richard Carapaz. UAE was really unreal. They took the top two spots in the last four stages."

Thomas sees Bernal and Pidcock growing and is highly impressed by Adam Yates

"Egan unfortunately lost the podium on the last day, but it was a good effort from him. And Tom, he finished sixth. It was great to see that. He started well and kept getting better, looked good. That trend of improving every day is a good sign." Yet, UAE stood out far above the rest, observed Thomas and Luke Rowe. "In the Dauphiné, it was manageable, then they had some illnesses and some bad luck.

"The dominance in Switzerland... wow. I was pleased to see Yatesie win. And Almeida was really a surprise to me." Thomas also looked ahead to his companion Mark Cavendish. He wondered why the sprinter started in Switzerland. "He doesn't need to finish the Tour. He just needs to win once. The end of the Tour is ridiculously tough. He just needs confidence. So why go to Switzerland?"

Last week, the UCI introduced a whole set of new rules to make cycling safer and fairer. "Three kilometers becomes five kilometers. That's fine. Actually, I think all the rules are pretty good," Rowe states. Thomas agrees. "The experiment with the radios will already remove a lot of stress. The teams that are smart about investing in the route and preparing it, and teams with strong team spirit, will benefit from this. Quite different, isn't it?"