Tour de France: Geraint Thomas relishes stage nine rain storm
By Matt Westby
Last Updated: 10/07/16 9:10pm
Geraint Thomas admitted he relished the hail and rain storm that battered the peloton in the closing kilometres of stage nine of the Tour de France.
Much of the day was played out in scorching temperatures hitting 36C, but bad weather closed in on the final climb to the summit finish and turned parts of the road into rivers.
Welshman Thomas, who crossed 7min 24sec down on winner Tom Dumoulin in 25th, said he welcomed the downpour.
He said: "The weather is actually quite nice. It's like back in Wales. It was hard with the heat, but the rain is actually quite nice."
Although Thomas is now 3min 20sec off the yellow jersey in 16th overall, Team Sky team-mate Chris Froome retained his 16-second race lead by finishing alongside his rivals on stage nine.
Team Sky were placed under heavy pressure early in the stage when both Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde went on the attack, but the British squad chased them both down.
Thomas added: "It has been a tough week. It was hard to control when Valverde went up the road, but we stuck together well, stayed as a unit.
"I think we showed our strength again. We didn't panic under pressure, which was really good.
"It's only stage nine and a lot can happen in grand tours. We are in a good position, but everyone within a couple of minutes is a threat."
The Tour now pauses for its first rest day on Monday, but the race resumes on Tuesday with a 197km 10th stage from Escaldes Engordany to Revel. Find out more about the route in our race guide and follow the stage live with our live blog from 1pm BST.
