Rio Olympics 2016: Patched-up Geraint Thomas relishing chance to make up for his road race heartbreak in time trial
PATCHED-UP Geraint Thomas will relish the chance to make up for his road race heartbreak in the time trial.
But he has mixed feelings about his late call-up for today’s event because other riders have not recovered from Saturday’s carnage.
Thomas, 30, nicknamed ‘G’, had his road race medal hopes ruined when he was one of several riders to suffer a horror crash on the controversial Vista Chinesa descent.
He said: “Whilst I’m thrilled to represent my country in a second event in Rio, the circumstances surrounding my inclusion are unfortunate and I’d like to wish all those who withdrew through injury a quick recovery.
“I lost quite a lot of skin in my crash and my hip took a pretty big knock but other than that my legs are feeling good and I’m looking forward to racing.
“We’d put all that hard work in, the six hours before to be in the race and in the right position, and then to lose it on a tiny mistake at the end.
“I came into that corner a little too fast and the back wheel skipped out on the bumps and that was it.
“I was down before I knew it and it was all over.
“It was devastating really. It gives you a little bit more determination and makes you a bit more up for it.
“It’s supposed to be bad weather for the time trial as well, so that adds another element to it, especially with that short technical descent.
Geraint Thomas crashed on the Vista Chinesa descent just when he looked in with a chance of Olympic gold
“It’s all about pace judgement but I don’t see why I wouldn’t have a good chance of getting a result.”
Thomas will join Chris Froome in the time-trial after Vincenzo Nibali suffered double collarbone fractures, Richie Porte fractured a scapula, and Wout Poels injured his elbow in falls on the same slopes as the Brit.
Froome is confident that he can bounce back from his 12th in the road race — one place behind Thomas, who remounted to finish.
The reigning three-time Tour de France winner has called on Tim Kerrison, head of athlete performance at Team Sky, to help him better the bronze he won at London 2012.
Froome, 31, said: “It is something we have done a lot of work on and it worked really well at the Tour.
“Ideally, we will be able to replicate what he did at the Tour, although it’s a different type of effort.
“We always knew the road race was going to be a bit of a lottery.
“I wasn’t coming in thinking I was guaranteed a medal or anything.
“I certainly didn’t leave anything out there. I buried myself in London four years ago as well. I was completely spent but I was fine in the time trial a few days later. It should be enough time to recover.”
Unfortunately, Britain’s representative in the women’s time trial, EMMA POOLEY, is the wrong kind of doctor to help Thomas or Froome.
In fact, Pooley recommends her PhD as a cure for insomnia but reckons today’s events will be thrilling — which is why she came out of retirement to compete in Rio.
Pooley lives near Zurich and finished her geotechnical engineering thesis at the city’s university in 2013, before quitting cycling the following year to focus on extreme triathlon competitions.
Pooley, 33, said: “If you want to know the real title, it was ‘Centrifugal modelling of ground improvement on double porosity clay’.
“So if you have trouble sleeping, then I can recommend it.
“Like many PhDs it was ridiculously specific and by the time I finished it, totally out of date and really boring, but I had to finish it.”
Now she wants to resolve some unfinished business in cycling.
Pooley said: “It’s an Olympics and it’s a really good course
“I really appreciate the excitement of a road race.
“An Iron Man can be boring, you’re on your own for ten hours, and a time trial seems really short.”