Home since Christmas, he has been hitting the roads around the Whakatipu as he prepares for his third season on the World Tour.
Thompson, who turns 24 next week, spoke to Mountain Scene before heading to Timaru for the Road National Championships starting today.
He is then flying to Abu Dhabi for the UAE Tour, a one-week World Tour stage race beginning on February 19, before continuing on to Europe.
After two years with French team Groupama-FDJ — and two years before that with its development team — he has signed for Belgian team, Lotto, for the next two years.
After a breakout year in 2021, when he won the Under-23 Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta in Italy, he says he’s been inconsistent in his first two years on the World Tour.
Highlights last year were riding in his first Grand Tour — the Tour of Spain — and competing for NZ at the Road Cycling World Champs in Switzerland.
Since getting home, he’s increased his hours on the bike, building on other recent tweaks to his training regime and nutrition.
He’s encouraged by how his body is responding, especially coming on the heels of a good performance in last year’s Tour of Spain.
"When you go into your first Grand Tour, it’s a complete unknown — you’ve got no idea how your body will respond to racing for five hours a day, three weeks in a row.
"But I loved it, and I felt like I only got better — stage 20 was probably my best stage of the whole race.
"So I’m really excited to see what I can do when I freshen up and go racing."
He’s set his sights on returning to the Tour of Spain, and selection for the world’s greatest bike race, the Tour de France.
"The last two years haven’t gone exactly the way I wanted ... I don’t think I’ve maximised what I’m capable of.
"So I just want to show my full potential, get near the front and start winning races, because that’s the fun part."
