Geraint Thomas to compete in Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in 2024?

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Geraint Thomas to compete in Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in 2024?

Geraint Thomas has revealed that he will compete in both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in 2024, his 18th season in the pro peloton.

The 37-year-old Welshman revealed his goals for 2024 in a live Instagram Q&A with Matt Stevens from his high-altitude training camp on Mount Teide in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Thomas will return to the Giro d'Italia in 2023 after narrowly losing out to Primos Roglic in the final stage mountain time trial for the overall win with Maglia Rosa. Thomas will clash with Pogachar in the 2024 Giro.

"I'm basically going to run the Giro and the Tour," Thomas said. [I wanted to come back to the Giro after last year and give it another big challenge. And the Tour, I didn't like the fact that I missed it last year. So I'm going to go into the Tour in this form and either get the best results or go into the Tour in the best shape."

Thomas signed a new contract in October, extending his time with Ineos Grenadiers through 2025.

Tom Pidcock and Carlos Rodriguez will be competing for the British team in the Tour de France, and both riders are hoping to challenge for overall GC.

Rodriguez finished fifth in last year's race and took a stage win. Pidcock, on the other hand, was in the top 10 until stage 14, when he fell more than 8 minutes behind the favorite to win.

Thomas will make his season debut at the Volta ao Algarve in February, followed by two weeks of stage racing at the Volta a Catalunya and Tour of the Alps. He will also head to a high altitude camp in the Sierra Nevada for his summer goals.

"It's a big challenge because I've never done it before, I did it in '17 and I crashed both times.

"It's a big challenge, and I'm an 18-year pro, so I have to mix it up a little bit. I can get out of bed in the morning."

Thomas revealed how Sir Dave Brailsford, now the former team principal of the Ineos Grenadiers, was involved in his move to both teams after lengthy discussions within the team.

"It's been in the back of my mind since last year," he said.

"It's definitely exciting. But I think you need the pressure and it's a lot of work to race against those two guys.

In 2023, Thomas rode two Grand Tours after a strong showing in the Giro, but without much success; in his second Vuelta, a crash in the first week and a string of bad luck ended his GC hopes.

The 2024 Grand Tour will feature two time trials. Stage 21 will start in Monaco, where Thomas lives, and the time trial will take place on the climb to Nice.

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