Tour de France 2018 stage 20 preview: Individual time trial which stands between Geraint Thomas and history

On the surface this should be routine for Thomas, who at 32 years old is in the form of his life, having spent the past three weeks piecing together a flawless Tour to put himself in this position

The final hurdle for Geraint Thomas is a lumpy individual time trial over 31km from Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle to Espelette. Should he complete it within two minutes and five seconds of Tom Dumoulin, the world time trial champion and his closest rival in this Tour de France, he will seal his first yellow jersey.

On the surface this should be routine for the Welsh rider, who at 32 years old is in the form of his life, having spent the past three weeks piecing together a flawless Tour to put himself in this position. It is his race to lose and it is very unlikely he will let it go now.

But it is not signed and sealed until he crosses the line. His most pessimistic fans might worry that he is still due his customary misfortune, when he crashes or suffers an untimely puncture and falls out of contention. “I work super hard and I’ve had some bad luck,” he said after stage 19, “so it’s nice to know that it’s paying off.”

Tiour de France stage 19 – individual time trial

It is hard to gauge Thomas’s track record in grand tour time trials, given he has often treated them as another rest day for his legs when on domestique duties for Chris Froome or Bradley Wiggins. In April he struggled badly on a 10km mountainous time trial at the Tour de Romandie but he prefers to cite the example of the 2017 Giro, when he came second to Dumoulin by 40 seconds despite suffering a terrible crash the day before.

The stage itself will be challenging with plenty of tight turns and undulations to test the riders. Froome will be aiming to reach the podium but must overcome his 13 second deficit to the man currently third, Primoz Roglic. Thomas’s task is a straightforward one: reach the line in one piece, and within a generous couple of minutes of the stage favourite Dumoulin, and he will have his crowning moment in Paris on Sunday.