Geraint Thomas to target top-10 place at 2016 Tour de France
Thursday 29 October 2015 10:31, UK
Geraint Thomas will target a place in the top five or 10 at next year’s Tour de France rather than sacrifice himself entirely for Chris Froome.
Thomas had been fourth in the general classification with three stages left of this season's Tour but then ran out of energy due to his previous efforts to support Froome and ended up finishing 15th.
With Richie Porte leaving Team Sky to join BMC Racing this winter, Thomas is set to step into the role of first back-up leader to Froome at the 2016 Tour and the 29-year-old Welshman is keen to capitalise on being further up the hierarchy.
He told Sky Sports News HQ: "The Tour is going to be my main goal. I want to go there as a quality back-up guy for Chris - still go there and support him 100 per cent but think about myself a bit more in that first half of the race.
"This year I didn't think about myself once and gave loads all the way through and ended up blowing up with three days to go, so hopefully I can make it through the whole Tour.
"If I can be top 10 or top five next season while still doing my job for Chris, that would be awesome, because it's still all about winning the Tour."
Thomas' performance in this year's Tour prompted suggestions that he could challenge for victory one day himself.
However, he doesn't anticipate he will be in a position to lead Team Sky ahead of Froome in the immediate future and has also ruled out moving to another team.
He added: "For sure, it would be great, but I have got to be better than him, and that's a tall order at the moment. I wouldn't want to lead the team if someone is better than me and, for sure, they have got to take up that role.
"Sky at the moment is the best place for me to learn how to lead the team. There is still a hell of a lot to learn."
Thomas has also revealed his ambition to race both road events at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio after the Tour.
He said: "The last two Olympics, I have been on the track in the team pursuit and, luckily enough, we won, which was awesome. This year I want to try to ride the road race and the time trial. I definitely want to be there, and to make it three golds would be nice.
"My season will be based around the Tour, and due to that, I'm going to be in the shape of my life, hopefully, and then the Olympics is two weeks after, so you stay focused, stay on it, recover, go to Rio and try to finish off a great five weeks."
