Geraint Thomas says the young pro riders of today barely drink, at any point in the year, and are completely dedicated to the bike 12 months, though he does not follow that example. Now aged 37 years, he has been almost always underestimated by his team. Yet he performs better in Grand Tours than any other Ineos Grenadiers rider, despite so many riders being brought into the squad as the next big hope.
Thomas was 2nd this year in the Giro d'Italia, only losing the leader's jersey on the penultimate stage to Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma). But once La Vuelta was over, Thomas did not follow other riders in squeezing some final extra races into the season, opting instead to go back to Wales.
And on home turf, he says he has been mostly going to the pub, opting for the old school blow-out phase before eventually realising he must get back on his bike at some stage. Thomas says while the new generation of pro riders are ultra dedicated - measuring training and eating all-year - he sees the post-season weeks as the blow-out season and has been working on his "drinking condition".
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“The last two weeks, honestly, I think I’ve been drunk 12 out of the 14 nights,” he told The Times. “Since coming back to Cardiff, it’s been mad. That’s the way you meet your mates. Like, ‘Oh, do you wanna catch-up? Yeah, let’s go for dinner, or just go down the pub.’
“I don’t drink during the season, apart from the odd drink, but in the off-season you let yourself go,” he said, adding while his tolerance for alcohol was lower at season-end "I feel like I have a good drinking condition now".
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And he says when he is on the lash during the off-season, hangovers inevitably mean eating a lot the following day, which leads to weight gain; putting on 7kg since the end of La Vuelta when he was 68kg, adding “now I’m at my biggest, I avoid the scales”. However, he says he can only hold his weight around 68kg for about six weeks maximum anyway.
“I feel like I’ve been able to enjoy my time,” he explains of his recent blow-outs. “It’s rare now that a young rider actually has a drink. Not that you’ve got to have a drink to have a good time. It just shows the difference in the mentality - everything is measured, and they’re all on it 12 months of the year. Even in the off-season they still ride their bikes or they’re running marathons.”
However, he has already returned to his family home in Monaco and is about to go to the US to train, meaning the winter excess is already over. He added that on the bike, the thinking around nutrition in the old Team Sky days is gone as no longer would he do five-hour riders fuelled by an omelette in a bid to get his weight down.
He says the "crazy diet" in those days "affected your mood". Now it was about fueling on rides so he tended to be less hungry when not on his bike.
“When you’re riding, that’s when your metabolism’s working and you’re just burning [weight]. That’s the new thinking; it has been working. It’s the last two years that it’s really changed. In most races we are eating 80 to 120 grams (of carbs) an hour.
"The mindset is the biggest challenge. Having that old-school approach for so long, you’re now eating quite a lot and to get your head around it was a challenge. Being able to adapt and move on with innovations, that’s allowed me to stay competitive.”
