‘Lazy’ Geraint Thomas rues ‘stupid mistakes’ on opening stage of Tour de France 2025, Primoz Roglic says ‘I don’t care’ about winning

The 2018 champion did not enjoy the best start and has already lost ground on the leaders, finishing 87th overall.

Afterwards, Thomas admitted to making a number of errors during the stage in Lille, which was the beginning of his final Tour de France race.

“Not a great place to start, going into this corner with like 18 [kilometres] to go, I was just a bit too lazy really,” he told reporters.

“There were some Lidl-Trek guys in front of me, [Soudal] Quick-Step behind, I thought, ‘Oh, it’s ok, firepower here’. I didn’t want to make a move and be gassed once we turned right and, well yeah, it splits and I was just sat there thinking what I should have done.

“19 years [as a] pro, you still make some stupid mistakes, don’t you?”

Asked what the atmosphere was like in the chasing peloton, Thomas added: “I kind of just sat a few riders back and left them to it, there were a lot of guys there. Remco [Evenepoel, Soudal–Quick-Step] was there, Primoz [Roglic, Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe], [Jonathan] Milan [Lidl–Trek].

“So, I assumed we’d have a good chance of coming back. Yeah, but obviously they were going in front as well and I don’t know, I didn’t really see, but I don’t know if they worked too hard together, but yeah, it is what it is.”

Primoz Roglic, 35, was one of the pre-race favourites but also endured a bad day at the office, crossing the line 78 places behind eventual winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

Prior to the action on day one, the three-time stage winner – still chasing a first Tour de France general classification win – admitted he was not bothered whether he could see himself winning it or not.

“If I’m honest, I don’t care now, really,” he said.

“Picturing this or that, like I already said, having 10 Tour de Frances, or one, or none, at my phase of my career, you’re not really turning it around, you’re not going to change it.

“I won some races, I’m f****** proud of it, we just try to enjoy it.”

Roglic was also asked about his condition, to which he replied: “I’m happy, you know. It’s always unfair to judge how good or bad you are.

“The fact is, we are here, I’m here with my guys, so you know, we’re just looking forward to doing the best we can and that’s the goal.”