The comments came as part of a Q&A episode where both men were asked who was\u00a0generally disliked in the\u00a0peloton\u00a0and who they\u00a0wouldn’t make space for during races.<\/p>\n
![\"Luke](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/screenshot-2025-10-29-135233.png\" "\\"Luke")
Luke Rowe Geraint Thomas Watts Occurring 29th Oct 2025 (credit: Watts Occuring\/YouTube)<\/p>\n
While Rowe and Thomas both\u00a0insisted that\u00a0they would not chase specific riders down over personal differences (unlike a certain Texan back in the day), both said they were often protective of their position in the peloton and wouldn’t let riders move up very often.<\/p>\n
But then Rowe went a step further in describing how he would actively disrupt and disturb\u00a0riders in the bunch.<\/p>\n
“You know who I did flick?\u00a0People who had been [tested] positive and came back to the sport.\u00a0I would just ride through them and go out of my way to do it,” he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Luke](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/luke-rowe-paris-roubaix-2021-copyright-aso-pauline-ballet.jpg\" "\\"Luke")
Luke Rowe at Paris-Roubaix 2021 – Copyright A.S.O., Pauline Ballet (credit: road.cc)<\/p>\n
“If it’s black and white and you’ve been done for something and they’re next to me, I’m just going to ride through them. I don’t understand why every rider didn’t do this because then it would make their life hell.<\/p>\n
“Because\u00a0they don’t deserve to come back in my mind.”<\/p>\n
> Geraint Thomas poised to take \u201csenior leadership position\u201d at Ineos Grenadiers<\/a><\/p>\n He continued: “And if they shout something, normally they don’t ‘cos\u00a0they know they haven’t got a leg to stand on. That’s probably the only category of rider I was like, I don’t give a fuck about them. You’ve cheated me. You’ve cheated the sport. Fuck you.<\/p>\n “Imagine [if] every rider had the same mentality.\u00a0Imagine you got caught for drugs, you’re cheating, [a]\u00a0scumbag, [you] come back to the sport, you’re on the start line with 160 riders and all of them treat you like shit which is all you deserve. You wouldn’t want to be in that peloton for long.<\/p>\n “You could just bully them out the sport. Back to where they belong.”<\/p>\n Thomas nodded and verbally approved with\u00a0Rowe’s comments, suggesting a difference in opinion to the one expressed to The Guardian<\/a> a few weeks ago when he said, in relation to questions over the team’s suspended soigneur David Rozman, “as a rider all you can do is worry about yourself and the next race”.<\/p>\n Rozman, a long-time Sky and Ineos employee, left the Tour de France mid-race after he came under scrutiny for his contacts and messages with convicted doctor Mark Schmidt<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n > Ineos Grenadiers head carer leaves Tour de France as anti-doping authority launches fresh investigation into 2012 texts<\/a><\/p>\n Team Sky previously came under the spotlight over their use of Thereapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE) that enabled riders to use otherwise banned substances, a practice Thomas later criticised<\/a>, and the ‘Jiffy-bag gate’ the controversy over the contents of a package delivered to Team Sky at the\u00a02011\u00a0Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9 by British Cycling.<\/p>\n The British squad’s\u00a0team doctor, Richard Freeman, was subsequently struck off the medical register<\/a>.<\/p>\n It’s also not the first time Rowe has courted attention with his statements on doping within the peloton.<\/p>\n![\"Luke](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/luke-rowe-aw90342.jpg\" "\\"Luke")
Luke Rowe 2022 Worlds AW9_0342 (credit: Alex Whitehead\/SWpix.com)<\/p>\n