LEAD RIDER
Write a biography about Geraint Thomas, they said. It'll be easy, they said. Do you know how much there is to say about Geraint Thomas? And he's not even retired yet.
Legend in his own lifetime seems to fit. Growing up in Cardiff with future teammate Luke Rowe, Geraint won the junior Paris-Roubaix and the Welsh National Road Race Championships in 2004 when he was just 17 years old. At the same time, he was winning gold and silver in the World and European Junior Track championships cementing him as one to watch in an era when Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish were also stirring up interest on the track and road.
Until 2010, it's pretty clear G's sights were set on track cycling. He competed in his first-ever Tour de France in 2007 as the youngest rider in the race and finished 140th out of 141 riders. The same year, he was first in the Team Pursuit at the UCI World Championships and the UCI World Cup Classic. He took gold in the Team Pursuit at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 along with Ed Clancy, Paul Manning and Bradley Wiggins, and consistently medalled in that discipline, along with the Madison and the Points Race over the years. In 2010 however, Geraint moved to Team Sky and a long and prosperous career on the road truly began.
Winning his first stage ridden with Team Sky as part of the Team Time Trial at the Tour of Qatar, he went on to become British National Champion and impress at the Tour de France. His racing calendar steadily increased over the next year until it was back on the track for the 2012 London Olympics.
The Team Pursuit gold medal was Great Britain's again as Thomas, Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh and Steven Burke beat Australia and their own World Record, set during the qualifying rounds.
2012 was Geraint's last year on the track, and what a veritable list of results on the road he has produced since. Winner of Paris-Nice, the Dauphine, Romandie, Tour de Suisse, three stages of the Tour de France (including being the only ever person to take the stage on Alpe d'Huez whilst wearing the yellow jersey) and, of course, he kept that yellow jersey through to Paris to take the overall win of the Tour de France in 2018.
Geraint Thomas is one of the most familiar faces, and most likeable characters, in the current pro-peloton and we can't wait to welcome him to come and celebrate the end of the 2023 season with us in Ibiza.
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