Geraint Thomas says he and his fellow Ineos Grenadiers riders must be “aggressive together” if they want to win the Tour de France.
The 36-year-old Welshman won the Tour in 2018 and warmed up for this year’s race by winning the Tour de Suisse.
The three-week race gets under way in Copenhagen this Friday and ends in Paris on Sunday, 24 July.
“I’m feeling good. I think the Tour de Suisse showed I’m in decent shape and we’ll see how it goes,” Thomas said.
“We’ve got a super-strong team and the main thing is we ride well together, are aggressive together and ride off each other well.
“We’ve been doing that all year so hopefully we can continue doing that.
“Hopefully I can be there at the crunch moments, affect the race positively… but in the Tour there’s a lot of good guys – someone like [Aleksandr] Vlasov is a big underdog as well.
“Everyone’s talking about the Slovenians and Jumbo-Visma, but there’s a lot of good guys who can perform well.”
Defending champion Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates has won the Tour the past two years and the Slovenian is widely expected to make it three in a row.
But Thomas believes if Ineos ride as a unit they can come into the reckoning against the favourites.
Thomas is one of three protected riders – the riders backed for stage or overall success – in the Ineos squad, with the others being Britain’s Adam Yates and Colombia’s Dani Martinez.
“The first week we’ve got the riders to do well and hopefully that puts us in the best place to limit the risk of unfortunate things happening,” Thomas said.
“But as we all know, on the cobbles so much can go wrong where skill and everything isn’t involved, it’s pure luck.
“I think we can be aggressive and take on the first week, but a lot depends on the weather conditions as well. On the cobbles if there’s a head-wind as well then the differences are going to be small.
“But we’re in the mind-set of going into the race, taking opportunities as much as we can and just enjoying the racing – as I have been the whole year really.
“The first week suits me a little more than some of the GC [general classification] guys… but until we get to the proper Alps that’s where we’ll all know where we stand really.
“I’ve obviously won the race and come second the following year and I’m a lot closer to the end of my career now than I am the start, but I’ve got a lot of experience and just want to enjoy the races now.
“Since November, Dani and Adam have been the leaders of the team and it’s still that way. Obviously I’m going well and want to be there in the mix and help them and take an opportunity if it comes, but I’m pretty chilled and will take what comes.”