My article for BBC Sport is online now, in time for Milan San-Remo. It features quotes from an interview with Geraint Thomas, who tips Mark Cavendish: Read Mark Cavendish tipped to impress at Milan-San Remo on BBC Sport
As ever with journalism, there was plenty of material that didn’t make the final edit, so here’s some of the other stuff Geraint had to say (there’s more than this but what with the day job and night shifts I didn’t transcribe the lot) about the Classics.
It seems a shame not to share this stuff given that I took up 20 minutes of Geraint’s time and he’s an absolute pleasure to talk to.
You can find out more about Super Ger/The Penguin/G/G-Man on his official site www.geraintthomas.com
(I may have just made up some of those nicknames for my own amusement)
On his road form this season
“I definitely feel like things are progressing for me.”
On the Milan-San Remo
“Every guy who turns up has to be on song. There’s definitely an expectation in the team.”
“It’s always difficult to stay away at MSR, unless you’re someone like a Cancellara.”
“That’s the thing with Cav: if he’s not winning races then people are saying ‘he’s not on song’ but when he won it he was taking it easy and getting dropped at Tirreno-Adriatico. I wouldn’t put anything past him – I was texting him and he seems in good spirits and up for it.”
“Thor is looking really strong, all that [Garmin-Cervelo] team are looking strong: Haussler, Hushovd and Farrar.”
On the cobbled classics
“Individually, in the team I’m in I haven’t really got free rein. I’ll be working for Flecha.”
“Obviously if I get the chance to go for it, I’ll take it. It’s still a race at the end of the day, and you’ve got to take your chances.”
“Fabian and Thor are hot favourites. At the end of the day though they’re only human, they can make mistakes and crash, especially in races like that. We’re quietly confident with Flecha.”
On the Ardennes classics
“I’ll be at home, with a coffee watching from the sofa.”
On getting qualification points for the Worlds in Copenhagen
“Last year we struggled to get the points without Brad’s Tour result and Cav’s classic win.”
“You’ve got to have nine individuals to score so it’s good to pick them up early, with Swifty at the Tour Down Under and Brad at Paris-Nice. I picked up a point as well.”
“Roger Hammond knows how to rides the classics, he’ll pick up a couple of points along the way. Dan Lloyd works hard for the team and is also good enough to get a result.”