Geraint Thomas on his off-season: ‘I think I’ve been drunk 12 out of the 14 nights’

Work hard, play hard? Ineos-Grenadiers rider is certainly enjoying his time off training, according to a recent interview with The Times. He touched on several subjects, including losing the GIro d’Italia, his diet, and how he lets loose with mates back in Wales.

“The last two weeks, honestly, I think I’ve been drunk 12 out of the 14 nights. Since coming back to Cardiff, it’s been mad. That’s the way you meet your mates. Like, ‘Oh, do you want to catch up? Yeah, let’s go for dinner, or just go down the pub’,” the 37-year-old rider said. “I don’t drink during the season, apart from the odd drink, but in the off-season you let yourself go. For sure, the tolerance is lower at the start, but I feel like I have a good drinking condition now…that sticks with you and that’s the way I socialize. That blowout–the real normality–is what I need, because now I’m like, ‘Mate, I really need to just get on my bike and get structured.'”

A few pints is par for the course

For him, getting a bit tipsy is a familiar feeling when he’s back home.

“I don’t know if it’s a British, or an Aussie mentality, the culture of just going out and getting drunk when you’re young,” he added. “That sticks with you and that’s the way I socialize. You go to the pub, meet your mates, have a few pints and go home. And it’s a knock-on effect – you have a few drinks, get the munchies and the next day you’re hungover and you want something salty, bacon or something.”

He also says that for his generation, it’s more normal to have alcohol.

Different story with younger riders

More and more he notices the younger generation avoids the hooch, even during their brief breaks of training in the winter.

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“I feel like I’ve been able to enjoy my time,” he said. “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.”

The changes in nutrition

As well as his liquid diet, he also spoke of how nutrition in general has changed over the course of his career. Gone are the days of reduced carbohydrate training sessions.

“Having a bit of a crazy diet back then definitely affected your mood, but that’s a big change. We still have a few low-carb rides, but now I tend to fuel the rides a lot more. Then I’m not as hungry off the bike, so I eat less. When you’re riding, that’s when your metabolism’s working and you’re just burning. That’s the new thinking; it has been working,” he adds. “It’s the last two years that it’s really changed. In most races we are eating 80 to 120 g of carbohydrates 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.”

The day he lost the Giro

He also spoke about the fateful day when he lost the pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia. “On the top of Monte Lussari, I wanted to be anywhere else in the world. It was pretty shitty. I’d worn that jersey for so long, and then standing on the podium and seeing Roglič in it, happy, celebrating with his son, it was just, oh… so close, you know, what could have been,” he said.

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He also spoke how happy he was to help out his good friend and former teammate take the win on the final stage into Rome. “It was good there was a race the next day, though. Helping Mark Cavendish at the end was a nice way to finish,” he said. “Seeing him win was nice and that put a bit of shine on what was quite a hard day.