(Reuters) – Britain’s Geraint Thomas said he hopes to compete at the Paris Olympics this summer but only if he feels capable of winning another medal.
Thomas, who won the Tour de France in 2018, competed in the road race at the Tokyo and Rio Games but was involved in crashes at both events.
However, the 37-year-old has had more success on the track, winning team pursuit gold at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
“I’d love to do one more Olympics, but I don’t want to go and just get another tracksuit,” Thomas told the Guardian in an interview published on Sunday.
“I want to be good enough to be in with a shout of a medal. I’ve got four tracksuits already – I don’t need another one.”
Thomas also weighed in on rider safety, which has become a talking point in the sport after a crash involving two-times Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel among others brought fresh scrutiny on cycling’s governing bodies.
“Everyone’s talking about this now because big-name riders have crashed, but it’s been happening for years,” Geraint said.
“Racing’s got that danger element already, but I feel like it could do so much more to increase safety. There’s road furniture, traffic calming, kerbs sticking out, all that kind of stuff.
“When you’re in it, if I thought about it, I’d be at the back (of the peloton). You wouldn’t be racing, you couldn’t do it.”
The Welshman will lead the Ineos Grenadiers team at the Giro d’Italia, which begins in Turin on May 4 and finishes in Rome on May 26.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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