Geraint Thomas "celebrated" his 38th birthday for the Giro d'Italia podium at the Montegrappa Climb and gave an important gift by defending third place overall.

On Sunday in Rome, Thomas will take the Giro d'Italia to the podium for 2 consecutive years. Last year he lost the race to Primoš Logrish in the final time trial. This year, he was ranked 3rd overall, losing to 10:24 Tadej Pogañar (UAE Team Emirates) and Dani Martinez (Bora・Hansgrohe) by just 28 seconds.

Thomas is starting to feel his age and his 18 seasons at the highest level, but was proud of his 20th Grand Tour, his 17th Grand Tour and his 5th podium.      

"Everyone has gone constantly about my age for quite a long time now, and I have never really seen a fuss." But now I'm 38 years old and quite old for a professional cyclist. I'm feeling every single one of my 38 years now," Thomas admitted after crossing the finish line at Bassano del Grappa.

"To be honest, I felt pretty average all day, especially before climbing. I was a bit similar: "Oh, this could be a terrible birthday" but I managed to regroup, and it was actually okay.

Thomas has been locked in 2nd place in his fight with Martinez since his first mountain finish at Otropa in Stage 2. He lost some precious seconds on stage 7 time Trial to Perugia but pulled them on stage 14 Time Trial on Lake Garda. Martinez moved past him in stage 16 and was slightly stronger in Montegrappa, but Thomas rode an experienced race, calculated to set the overall third on Sunday.

He had no regrets.  

"No, not at all," he said. "I think we did our best during the whole race, myself and the team," he said. We've been riding well, there was nothing more I could do to overtake Danny. It's a great ride by him.

"When the uae lit it up and the Pog asked for it, I had to let the boys go, because I couldn't go with them. I had to ride at my own pace. Fortunately, I was with Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and his teammates and had a really good ride to the top.

"I wanted 2 and a half minutes with Antonio Tiberi, so I didn't want to get carried away with the descent. It was nice to close them so I could relax a bit more.

Thomas finished in the front Chase group and reached the finish at 2:07 behind Poganyar. Welshman has long accepted that Poganyar was on another planet and never really tried to fight him.

"I want to bet a lot of money on not racing when Poganyar is 38, so at least I have it to him," Thomas said with some carefree consolation, acknowledging that Poganyar is the greatest talent he has seen during his long career.

"He's the best I've raced and I've raced with a lot of good guys," Thomas explained. "He is so versatile and aggressive as well as all year round. It's not like me, for a few months of the year you're good. It's insane how talented he is.

Thomas and Pogagnard fight each other on the Tour de France.  Pogañar is chasing the historic Giro Tour double. Thomas has other things on his mind before the 7th month.      

"Jonas Vingegaard is really the only guy on the same level as him, but we still don't know how he is," Thomas said of the Dane after his horrific crash and lung injuries. "But there is always a chance, it is a bicycle race, but to pure physical talent he is unique."  

"I'm not thinking about the tour, I just want to drink a nice cold beer for my birthday."

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