Geraint Thomas has spoken for the first time about the freak accident with a water bottle that left him with a fractured pelvis – and his Giro d’Italia hopes in tatters.
The 34-year-old admits the injury has given him a ‘gangster-lean’ as he chases after his one-year-old son Max as he continues his physical recovery at home.
But the mental scars are still there as he reflects on the crash just three stages into the Giro which ended his hopes of a second Grand Tour crown.
“Physically I am still pretty sore. I think having Max (his son turned one the day before the Giro started) probably doesn’t help, chasing him around,” said the Ineos Grenadiers rider in an interview with S4C Chwaraeon.
“I want to do it as well but I end up spending a bit too much time on my feet.
“I am still pretty sore when I am walking. I’ve got a real gangster lean going on but I have got a crutch to help. It is going to take a bit of time.”
🚨 EGSLIWSIF | EXCLUSIVE 🚨
"When you go to bed, you start thinking what could've been, what should've been…"
Cyfweliad â @geraintthomas16 wrth iddo drafod ei anaf a'r Giro! 🏴
Full interview! 👇
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📲 https://t.co/yCJmU3wwxI#giro pic.twitter.com/IbN6h7QbKq— S4C Chwaraeon 🏴 (@S4Cchwaraeon) October 13, 2020
Thomas had taken time out of all his rivals on the opening stage time trial and was lying third and favourite to add the maglia rosa to his 2018 yellow jersey from the Tour de France.
But as they rolled through the neutral zone in Enna in Sicily eight days ago a loose water bottle got caught in his front wheel sending him crashing to the ground.
Thomas bravely got to the end of the stage on Mt Etna but x-rays confirmed that he had suffered a fractured pelvis forcing him to abandon a race – just as he did in 2017 when also set to challenge for victory.
“Mentally I am feeling a lot better,” added Thomas. “The first few days it was still raw, you are kind of just up and down.
“At some point you forget about it as you are with the family, but then you go to bed and you start thinking ‘what could have been, what should have been’ and all this type of stuff.
“It’s only natural but at the same time it’s not useful.
“Now I am feeling a lot better. I haven’t watched any of the race, I’ve just avoided it all.
“Basically this next month I switch off completely then knuckle down again.
— Salvatore Bertuccio (@salxber) October 5, 2020
Thomas admits he can remember every detail of the crash including the elderly local who tried to get him back to his feet.
“I remember it all clear as day basically,” added the Cardiff-born rider. “I remember seeing this orange thing last minute which was the bottle.
“I think my front wheel might have just clipped it as I remember my left hand slipping on the bars.
“It didn’t completely slip off but I wasn’t in control on my left-hand side basically and the back wheel is what took me down though I didn’t realise that at the time.
“I remember thinking I’d saved or half-saved it but then straightening up and wobbling again and hitting the deck.”
“I remember it all. There was this old guy and I landed at his feet and he just tried to pick me up straight away and I was saying ‘whoa, slow down a bit’.
“I was breathing fast, wondering what’s just happened as boom, in a split second, you’re on the floor.
“I remember feeling a real dead leg and it was the exact same feeling when I fractured my pelvis in the Tour (de France) back in 2013.
“Deep down I thought this isn’t right. I wasn’t sure if it was fractured but I knew it would take time to recover whatever the damage was.
“I got back to my feet once I knew I could move my legs and stuff. I think I hit the back of my head slightly but the whole impact went on my left side, on my hip.”
“I got back in the race and basically I just tried to bluff it. I didn’t want to go back to the doctor as I needed some pain-killers so I sent one of my team-mates back and he brought them up to me. I didn’t want other teams to see me back there and thinking I was vulnerable.
“I just tried to race as we would do, staying right in the front, trying to look as normal on the bike as possible but once we started on the run-in to the final climb I knew straight away that I couldn’t pedal with my left side.
“I got dropped before the climb even started. It was frustrating and it was hard but I kept going thinking ‘you never know, could be okay’. You just have to finish the stage as best you can then you reassess.
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