Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) may have taken the maglia rosa off the shoulders of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) yesterday on Giro d'Italia but the Welshman played his role in a British mafia win on the final stage into Rome today.
Thomas could be seen helping compatriot Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan Team) in the finale, on a stage when British muscle moved into action to compensate for Cavendish's weak trade team lead-out support.
Thomas, who has finished 2nd overall, did a monster turn on the front, which began with just over 2km of racing to go today. And when he was done, the front of the bunch was strung out, with Cavendish positioned perfectly as some of his rivals had slipped slightly backwards due to Thomas's power.
Cavendish then followed Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team) and when the Colombian went early, it was a perfect lead-out for the British champion. He came off Gaviria's wheel and the moment he kicked it seemed the sprint was over, with Cavendish winning it by several lengths from Alex Kirsch (Trek-Segafredo) and Filippo Fiorelli (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
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Cavendish was overjoyed at the finish, taking his new team's first Giro stage win for four years and being mobbed by the Astana staff just after the line before Thomas got in on the action; Cavendish hugging and thanking him with almost the same intensity he had approached the final sprint.
Thomas's Ineos Grenadiers team had moved to the front with about 6km to go, clearly intent on keeping him out of trouble. But while they soon fell away - as Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech) attacked and was caught - Thomas lingered on the front. He did his best for Cavendish and the team mate who was looking after him in the sprint, Luis León Sánchez.
After Gee was caught, Movistar Team took it up on the front for Gaviria. However, with 2.2km to go, Thomas then appeared at the head of the group, putting in a huge turn with Sánchez is in wheel followed closely by Cavendish.
While Thomas peeled off after 1km, meaning Cavendish still had to surf the wheels in the final kilometre to try and win, he was up to the task in his final Giro before retirement. He got into the wheel of stage winner and points classification leader Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) before switching to Gaviria, who went much too early and pulled the British rider away to victory.
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