Geraint Thomas welcomes Bradley Wiggins to Sky's Flanders squad

Olympic champion ready for Ronde assault

Geraint Thomas in the 2014 Milan-San Remo

(Image credit: Watson)

Geraint Thomas is confident late replacement Bradley Wiggins will slot smoothly into Sky’s classics squad ahead of Sunday’s Tour of Flanders.

Thomas is set to lead the outfit at the second Monument of the season that Wiggins was drawn from the reserve list for following Ian Stannard’s crash at last week’s Gent-Wevelgem.

Paris-Roubaix hopeful Stannard fractured a thoracic vertebra when he landed in a ditch at the semi-classic. The Het Nieuwsblad champion’s absence will be felt at the gritty Flanders epic this weekend.

“After breakfast he’s the one that I’m sort of left with just chatting, chilling with another coffee when everyone else goes off,” Thomas joked with seven journalists at a relaxed press conference in Kortrijk today. “No, I think he will be missed because he’s one of the strongest guys for the classics anyway. He was a key guy for us but Brad is just as strong, you know, positioning wise and things. Whether he can be there when it matters we’ll soon see.”

Flanders is an addition to Wiggins’s schedule, which initially only included Wednesday’s Scheldeprijs as well as Paris-Roubaix that he is said to have high hopes for.

The strength in numbers tactic Sky employed at Het Nieuwsblad, in which Edvald Boasson Hagen, who also spoke to press today, finished third, has become a model for the team. Thomas emphasised the importance of it multiple times when talking race strategy and how to weaken defending champion Fabian Cancellara (Trek) as well as race favourites Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and young prodigy Peter Sagan (Cannondale).

“As long as you’ve got a teammate up the road you’ve always got that excuse to sit on,” Thomas said. “But they know that as well so they’re going to race accordingly.”

Thomas will make his fourth career appearance at the Ronde on Sunday and experience, as with anyone, will be a key factor in this 2014 campaign.

Sky is without skilled classics veteran Mathew Hayman, who transferred to Orica-GreenEdge at the end of last year. However, Thomas has benefited from his own experience as well as that of the Australian. The British squad can also call on the knowledge Austrian captain Bernhard Eisel.

“I think doing the recon [on Thursday] was the first time I really had an idea of where it was,” Thomas said of the 260km course.

“It takes a few years because there’s so many lefts and rights and a little climb here and descent there. When Hayman was in the team he was always talking about, ‘we do the descent in E3, we go up that now, we take that left here, instead of that right in Nieuwsbald'.

"You’re like, ‘how the hell did you know all of that?’ But the more you race here the more you get dialed into it and know where you are. That makes a big difference as well.”

Thomas finished third at E3-Harelbeke, which is popularly considered a Flanders test event, last weekend, putting the hammer down on the Kwaremont in a decisive move that helped determine the final race selection.

The 27-year-old may employ a similar "spontaneous" tactic on Sunday.

“In Paris-Nice on [stage four] where I was second to [Tom] Slagter [in a two-up sprint] I just went because, I didn’t even think about it, I just went,” he said. “In E3 as well, it was the same on the Kwaremont. I felt okay so I just thought, why not? Go and see what happens.

"You know the little window of where you really need to be in front, switch on and see how it goes from there.”

Sky also has a podium contender in Boasson Hagen should the race come back together at the finish.

Bradley Wiggins to ride Tour of Flanders

Bradley Wiggins added to Team Sky's roster for Sunday's Tour of Flanders

Sky DS Servais Knaven confident Bradley Wiggins will fit into classics squad

Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins a welcome addition to Sky classics squad

Ian Stannard out of Classics with fractured vertebra

Ian Stannard (Team Sky) will miss out on Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix after fracturing vertebrae in Ghent-Wevelgem crash

Ian Stannard wins Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Ian Stannard becomes first British winner of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad after out-sprinting Greg Van Avermaet

Geraint Thomas moving towards cobbled classic win

Geraint Thomas was one of the strongest riders during Friday's E3 Harelbeke, eventually placing third behind Peter Sagan and Niki

Peter Sagan wins E3 Harelbeke as Geraint Thomas places third

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Geraint Thomas withdraws from Paris-Nice after crash

Geraint Thomas forced to pull out of Paris-Nice after crashing in final five kilometres of stage seven on Saturday

Tom-Jelte Slagter takes second Paris-Nice stage win as Geraint Thomas crashes out of top 10

Nasty crash in final 5km of Saturday's stage sees Geraint Thomas drop well out of top 10 overall

Geraint Thomas keeps Paris-Nice lead after stage five goes to Carlos Betancur

Team Sky's Geraint Thomas defended his lead at Paris-Nice race lead after Carlos Betancur (Ag2r-La Mondiale) took the victory on

Geraint Thomas leads Paris-Nice after stage four

Geraint Thomas (Sky) has moved into the overall lead at Paris-Nice after finishing second on the fourth stage to Dutchman

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Contributor

Sophie Smith is an Australian journalist, broadcaster and author of Pain & Privilege: Inside Le Tour. She follows the WorldTour circuit, working for British, Australian and US press, and has covered 10 Tours de France.