TOUR de France winner Geraint Thom has opened up on the struggles of Ineos Grenadiers after a season that saw just the one Grand Tour podium place - the 38-year-old Welshman finishing third in the Giro d'Italia.

On his Watts Occuring podcast with fellow Welshman and team mate Luke Rowe, Thomas - who owns the St Tewdrics wedding venue near Chepstow - said the team need to look in the mirror and have a few honest conversations to turn things round.

"I don't think there's one thing. There's loads of things but they all add up," he said.

"I don't think there's one silver bullet that is the reason why we've struggled a bit this year for results, but there's numerous things.

"I think for now, the main goal should just be, as a team, we need to be the best and the strongest and the most unified.

"We're in it together, we're all moving in the same direction together and we've got these big goals and aspirations. Just get back to winning some bike races.

"Let's face it, Pog (Tadej Pogacar) and Vingo (Jonas Vingegaard) are going to be hard to topple, but there's still a hell of a lot of other races and there's still a lot of good bike riders in the team as well.

"You can still get a lot of success, it's just been close but no cigar this year a lot of the time.

"It's just about turning that around a bit, but we've still got the right guys around us to do that. But it definitely needs a few honest conversations and looking in the mirror."