Geraint Thomas has suffered a 20-second time penalty for an illegal roadside feed at the Tour de Romandie, which puts a big dent in his hopes of winning the race again this year.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider, and defending champion, laid the foundations for a strong GC challenge this week with 4th in the opening prologue, won by his team mate Ethan Hayter. However, Thomas became the team's best-placed rider on the road yesterday when Hayter's habit of hanging around the back of the bunch cost him dearly as he came down in a crash.
Thomas was due to go into today's stage 2 effectively equal 2nd overall with Felix Großschartner (Bora-hansgrohe); both 16 seconds down on race leader Rohan Dennis (Jumbo Visma).
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However, due to his time penalty, Thomas has now tumbled down the standings and sits in 24th place at 36 seconds. The race organisers confirmed the Welsh rider was penalised as he took a bottle outside an "authorised zone" for feeding.
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The video below (apologies for the poor quality - Ed) shows two Ineos Grenadiers staff members by the roadside with bottles to hand up. When the first effort is not successful - as the bottle falls on the road - Thomas has more luck with the next attempt by the second team staff member a little further up the road.
The other teams in the race had staff members at an authorised feed zone about 700m down the course. It was unclear why the Ineos Grenadiers staff were posted further up the road but it has now cost Thomas 20 seconds and that makes his bid to win the race much harder.
