Paul Seixas might be a more achievable signing and by all accounts Netcompany-Ineos are prepared to pay substantial money for the hottest young thing in cycling. But they are hardly alone in that. And in any case Decathlon-CMA CGM, Seixas’s team, are fighting hard to keep a rider who carries the hopes of a nation on his young shoulders, with even president Emmanuel Macron being said to be keen to keep him in French hands. Netcompany-Ineos’s sponsorship deal with French energy giant TotalEnergies could be their best hope of snaring him.

Without a general classification leader to rival Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), or even the next rung of Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), it is difficult to imagine Netcompany-Ineos making significant leaps forward.

Thomas at least is a shrewd appointment, and it was interesting wandering around all the team buses on Wednesday noting all the British talent out there who came up through Team Sky. Luke Rowe (with whom Thomas hosts a podcast) at Decathlon-CMA CGM, Peter Kennaugh at XDS Astana, Rod Ellingworth at Bahrain Victorious, even Mark Cavendish is at the race with organisers ASO. Perhaps Thomas can get the band back together?

“Luke’s got a good role at Decathlon, but it’d be great to, you know, be on the same team as him again,” Thomas admitted, adding that Ben Swift, who is in his final season, was another potential management recruit. “Obviously, in this new sort of chapter that we’re all in now. And when you look around, Pete at Astana, and, you know, Swifty about to stop riding. It’s strange. I feel old just saying that.”

Thomas, who is moving from Monaco back to Cardiff in September, when his son Macs begins “in Welsh school”, has his work cut out. A win between now and Sunday would help restore some of the feelgood factor, but Thomas insists he will not be running for the hills either way.

“As a rider, I never was never one to quit and stop a race,” he said. “You don’t have a bad result and just go home and you feel sorry for yourself, you get up and you go after it again.

“This has absolutely whetted my appetite, you know? Because it hurts when you’re used to being successful. You want a piece of that again.”