Thomas criticizes Red Bull, Roglic and basically half the cycling world: "Is thus how it's going to be from now on?"

Geraint Thomas is baffled by how the cycling world seems to be resigning itself to the dominance of Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour de France and other races. In his podcast, the Welshman from INEOS Grenadiers takes aim at riders and teams that are choosing to escape to different races.

Thomas' sharp remarks start when the 2025 Giro d'Italia is brought up. "I find it strange that Primoz Roglic is doing the Giro d'Italia. It makes me feel like they don’t believe in winning the Tour. He left Visma | Lease a Bike to ride the Tour de France, and he already won the Giro two years ago. I think it’s an odd choice, especially for Roglic," he says about the Giro-Tour double planned by the Slovenian and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

In an attempt to defend Roglic, podcast host Tom and guest Laurens De Plus, Thomas' teammate, only seem to make things worse. "They signed Roglic for a lot of money, and to justify that salary, they’re playing it safe. In the Tour, maybe he could podium, but maybe the team wants to see a return on their investment by checking off the Giro. Maybe that’s the smart choice?" De Plus adds: "Let’s be honest, if Pogacar and Vingegaard are at 100%..."

Read more below the photo.

Primoz Roglic

Thomas sees the peloton give up against Pogacar and Vingegaard

Thomas cuts in: "Yeah, so? Should we just not race at all anymore? Should we let Tadej and Jonas ride around France by themselves? Is this how it’s going to be from now on — everyone just doing the races that Pog and Jonas aren’t in?" De Plus laughs and defends his point: "If you want to win, maybe you have to pick a different race. We did the same thing at INEOS two years ago, right? We sent our best guys to the Giro because that’s where we had the best chance to win."

"You have a point, I understand that..." Thomas continues. "But when it comes to Red Bull and Roglic, I don’t get it. They’ve invested so much money into the goal of winning the Tour, so why not go all in? You’re definitely not going to win if you don’t start at 100%. Anything can happen in a cycling race. Of course, what Pogacar and Vingegaard are doing these days is insane, but that doesn’t mean you should give up. Sure, you might win more in races where they aren’t there, but still..."

Despite Thomas' stance, many top riders have committed to the Giro d'Italia as their first Grand Tour of the year. Alongside Primoz Roglic, Juan Ayuso, Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers), and Max Poole (Picnic-PostNL) have already been confirmed.

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