Four years ago, heading into the final rest day of the Tour de France, Geraint Thomas was nearly two minutes ahead of everyone else in the race to the Pyrenees.

At the time, Thomas, a native of Wales, was 1:51 ahead of Tom Dumoulin after three weeks of racing, winning in Paris. This time, however, Thomas will enter stage 16 with a similar gap as he battles race leader Jonas Vingegaard and second-placed Tadej Pogachar.

At the Ineos Grenadiers rest day press conference in Carcassonne, Thomas, who is 2:43 behind Yellow, said he expects a big battle between the top two as the race heads into the Pyrenees for three crucial stages.

"As we saw yesterday, there was a bit of a crash in Vingeegor and COVID is still prevalent. So that has everything to do with it."

"But from a purely racing perspective, Pogachar is ...... Tomorrow there is a steep climb in the last 3km and a downhill to the finish. I don't think it's a very technical course, but if there's a 5-10 second time difference - and that depends on the number of people and the combination - it looks like we're attacking."

"And I think the next two days we will attack each other. I think Jonas will cover him, and then he'll try to deliver a psychological blow at the end and try to get a gap on Pogachar. The hardest stage will probably be the last of the three days. Whatever happens on the second day on Wednesday, I think everything could change on the last day in the Pyrenees because it's a super hard day.

"It's going to be an exciting race for everyone at home, and I think it's going to be a great day.

As for his and his team's strategy to bring in the top two in the three mountain stages, Thomas said, "We just have to keep believing," noting, "Just get to Paris as fast as we can. Beyond that, it's just going to be what it will be, he said.

"It will certainly be difficult because I have not one but two incredibly strong players in front of me. But I have to keep believing, and as a team, we're going to do everything we can to keep racing the best we can."

"I was talking to Steve [Cummings, Ineos DS] the other day, and basically, from the start to the top of the climb, to get from A to B as fast as possible. To. Basically, getting to Paris as quickly as possible. [As for] Jonas and Taddeji, if you can't pass them, you don't pass them, that's it."

Thomas noted that Dani Martinez, who came to the Tour as co-leader of Ineos, was recovering from a bad start to the race, and said that Jonathan Castroviejo's health was also improving.

These two, along with fifth-place finisher Adam Yates and ninth-place finisher Tom Pidcock, will be key to taking the fight to a weakened Jumbo Visma and UAE Team Emirates in the final week.

Thomas said his team is in better shape than a week ago. This is in contrast to Jumbo, which lost Primosz Roglic and Steven Kruiswijk on Sunday, and the UAE, which lost George Bennett, a key climber.

"Compared to the start of the second week, the health of these two guys is definitely better," Thomas said of Martinez and Castroviejo.

"To be honest, we were in good shape throughout, but we couldn't match the explosiveness of Vingegaard and Pogachar. Especially in Alpe d'Huez, because at the end of the day, I knew they wouldn't last. But when I saw they were stopping, I dropped back a little bit and took a little more time to come back.

"I think the worst day for me was Mende. Of course, I doubled my time to the yellow jersey and that's not ideal, but at the same time I think I'm still in a good position."

Thomas not only looks up at the top two in the overall standings, but also at Romain Bardet, who is 18 seconds back, and Nairo Quintana, who is within two minutes of the podium and David Gaudou from behind.

But he said

that while he cannot take his eyes off them, he is confident of staying ahead of the chasing pack, even if Pogachar and Vingegaard are another matter. But I'm confident I can cut time from them in the TT," Thomas said

. [But with Taddei, it's difficult. Sure, he's already cracked one day, but if they continue to race attacking at full throttle, anything can happen.