After finishing second behind teammate Egan Bernal on the Tour de France podium, Geraint Thomas will be back on the podium on Sunday evening, finishing third behind Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) and Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates).

His Ineos Grenadiers team started the Tour with Thomas as one of three GC leaders, along with Dani Martinez and Adam Yates. However, two of the co-leaders fell ill during the race, and the British team had to leave the battle to the Welshman who would eventually occupy the top step of the podium.

Thomas, who finished fourth in the final time trial in Rocamadour, finished third overall, 8:13 behind first-time winner Vingegaard, and achieved a "podium sweep" following his overall win in 2018.

After stage 20, Thomas wondered how he could outperform Jumbo Visma and UAE Team Emirates in the upcoming Tour, or about other teams.

"In any case, next year could be my last year. I'll enjoy watching," he joked at the post-stage press conference. [Those two are unbelievable. Tom [Pidcock] certainly has a promising future, but it's one thing to run like him and another to win. But why not do so: ...... In the short term, these two stand out at the moment."

Thomas said that Ineos' strategy of picking three co-leaders would beat the two who have been head and shoulders above the rest over the past three weeks.

"I think the best way to do it is to come here with a really strong lineup. 'Dani is out of shape and Yatesy is a little out of shape. Still, Jambo is very strong and the UAE is ...... They said they were weak, but 'Iceberg (Mikkel Bjarg) and McNulty are ...... Terrible. Oh my God.

"So our job is definitely hard, but that's the challenge, that's what gets us out of bed in the morning. If it were easy, we wouldn't bother doing it. We're going to do as much as we can for another year or two."

Thomas answered questions about his future and age at the press conference, but some questioned before the Tour whether the 36-year-old was a realistic candidate to beat Pogachar.

Thomas, who has steadily built up his strength through the spring, taking on races he had rarely visited before, said his victory at the Tour de Suisse had also changed the thinking within the team.

"I have a contract until the end of next year. I might quit, I might do it again. I'm still enjoying the race and this race. It's the biggest race in the world, it's incredible to be a part of it, and I love being part of the stages and competing for wins."

"But at the same time, I don't know. This year I'm competing in La Flèche Wallonne for the first time and I've only competed in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Basque Country (Ituria) before. It has given me new energy. But never say never. We'll see.

"I think [the team] saw me as a domestique, like Sepp Kuss in the mountains," Thomas added.

"And Thomas added, 'I'm not sure I'll ever be a domestique.' After Switzerland, things changed a bit, but I was very happy to be included in that mix."

"I was very happy to be included in that mix,"

and "I was very happy to be included in that mix.

But did Thomas always believe he could win the Tour, despite doubts from inside and outside the team?

"I always believed I could. The end of last year was really hard for various reasons, but since I started riding again, I have been steadily getting stronger, which is normal for me in the last few years"

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"But I was confident that if I kept working hard and doing the right things I could get into it. But I was confident that if I kept working hard and doing the right things, I could always make it to the top. It was more about coming in and racing as fresh as possible.

"That's my personality. I never give up after being told I can't do something. Deep down, I knew I could still do well. I just wanted to be here at my best, whether it was doing super rides in the mountains like Sepp and taking other days off, or standing on the podium like I am now."

"I wanted to give myself one last chance. I'm really, really happy to be on the podium.