Geraint Thomas and Alex Dowsett are raring to go ahead of the Tour of Britain where they will line up for Team Sky.
British stage race set to kick off
Geraint Thomas and Alex Dowsett are raring to go ahead of the Tour of Britain where they will line up for Team Sky.
The British pair are part of a strong six-man line-up for the British squad and will hope to stamp their authority on the team’s home race.
Both men are in the middle of career-best seasons and will hope to continue a strong run of momentum for the team including strong performances at the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana.
Thomas will be hoping to repeat his success at the Bayern-Rundfahrt stage race in May and will aim to spearhead the team when the race kicks off in Peebles, Scotland.
He said: “I’d love to go for it (GC) for sure. But the thing with the Tour of Britain is that usually there’s one day with a big break and I need to make sure I get in that battle.
“I’ve ridden the Tour of Britain for a number of years and I feel I’m in the position now where I can go for the win but a lot can happen.”
Leadership role
Thomas now has the chance to compete as a protected rider after spending large sections of the season working tirelessly for others.
On the prospect of a tilt at overall victory he added: “It is definitely different having to think about yourself a lot more rather than other people. In the last three or four years I’ve been riding for other people but this year I’ve had a few opportunities for myself. At the Tour of Britain I think it will still be fairly open – Alex Dowsett can time trial well as we all know, Mick Rogers too.
“I think most of the team can over 10k can so we’ll have a couple of guys protected but I think it’s more a case of everyone race it and make sure we have someone in the GC by the end. It’s a really enthusiastic team which just loves racing and getting stuck in. We’ve got a few cards to play.”
One of those cards is the 22-year-old Dowsett, a rider in the middle of a strong run of form having taken two victories in his first season as a professional.
With fast and furious racing ensured across the British Isles due to a strong mix of WorldTour and domestic squads, Dowsett believes tactics could be pivotal as the race is stretched to the limit.
He said: “Smaller teams won’t chase if they don’t have someone in the break and if the bigger teams have someone up the road then that could potentially just shut down the race,” he added.
“If a break gets 10-12 minutes then that is game over so you definitely need to be attentive to that and make sure we play our cards right.”
Keeping out of trouble
All of which makes it tough to make a run at the GC, as Dowsett explains: “It’s a question of staying up there on the climbs, staying forwards in the bunch away from any incidents, splits or crashes and just generally keeping yourself out of trouble and limiting time losses as best as you can.
“With the time trial being flat and only around 10k the gaps aren’t going to be big. So if you lose 20 seconds here or there in the previous stages then that’s a big ask to get that back.”
One factor which the rider believes could play a big part in proceedings is the infamous British weather.
Dowsett explains the theory, revealing: “The weather could play its part. A couple of years ago they went over some hard terrain. It was the year the weather was good and Eddy [Edvald Boasson Hagen] won most of the stages. The weather was good so it gave a good opportunity for a sprint.
“Then last year over the moors the weather was bad. So I think that could decide how the racing will go.”
