Geraint Thomas says he felt ‘legless’ on ‘rubbish day’ as he loses time to GC rivals at Vuelta a Espana

Geraint Thomas admitted he felt “legless” and had a “pretty rubbish day” after losing time to his GC rivals on Stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana.

Thomas finished 23rd on the stage, 47 seconds behind Evenepoel.

In the overall standings he is in 21st place, one minute and 11 seconds behind the red jersey.

“I felt OK in the day but then the last climb, I didn’t feel I had anything in there to really push.

“I was on the back foot at the back, yo-yoing off it and it’s not the best place to be. So it was a day to forget about.”

Thomas, 37, is bidding for a second Grand Tour career win, but it looks a tough ask for him to finish ahead of Evenepoel or Jumbo-Visma duo Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic.

He was dropped with around 2.5km remaining on Stage 3 and crossed the line with team-mate Egan Bernal.

“It went as expected,” added Thomas.

“All the usual suspects were there, and going strong. When the breakaway went with [Damiano] Caruso up there, we knew they’d ride to bring it back or keep it in touching distance anyway. Then they put down a hard pace on the last climb.

“But as for me, I just didn’t have it today.”

The next two stages are relatively flat before the GC battle could ignite again on Thursday.

Thomas says he is not too downbeat with his form given it is early in the race and will “keep on fighting”.

“Obviously it’s early on in the race, and there’s still about 16 hard days to come, so I won’t get too despondent, I’ve just got to keep on fighting.

“Once the break went with the strong guys in it, we knew they’d ride hard behind and I wasn’t sure whether they’d close it or keep it under a minute, by the finish.

“They rode hard and brought it back, and Remco went for the stage. But for me, it’s just a pretty rubbish day.”