Thomas out of Froome’s shadow
The humble Welshman won the 21stage race on Sunday
PARIS:As a “guy next door” known for being the life and soul of the party and watching rugby while slugging the odd pint, Welshman Geraint Thomas is unlikely to let his maiden Tour de France victory go to his head.
Thomas, known affectionately as ‘G’, might spend a major part of his year training in the hills around the plush Principality of Monaco, where he lives with wife Sara. But if there’s a more downto-earth rider or likeable rider than the 32-year-old from Cardiff, he’s yet to be found.
“He’s like the guy next door nobody has a bad word to say about him,” said Dave Brailsford, principal of a Sky team that, thanks to Thomas, Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins, have won cycling’s marquee event six times in the past seven editions.
“You couldn’t find a prouder Welshman. When he’s on the bike he makes the sacrifices but when he’s not, he’s the life and soul of the party. And like most Welshmen, he likes to have a pint and start singing.”
AFFABLE ‘G’
If proof were needed of Thomas’s affable and unassuming nature, it came at the finish line of Saturday’s penultimate stage time trial, where he finished 14 secs behind winner and yellow jersey rival Tom Dumoulin to virtually secure his overall victory.
After crying out with emotion, Thomas hugged Brailsford, grabbed a Wales flag, and just about “everyone” within touching distance, as he posed for the first photos of his impending triumph. Hours later, the two-time Olympic team pursuit champion was still in disbelief as years of battling on the road, following a successful track career, edged him towards the ultimate cycling destination -- the top step of the Tour podium in Paris.
“It’s incredible just to be sat here with this jersey, it’s insane,” said Thomas, a former pupil of Whitchurch High School in Cardiff whose alumni include former Wales rugby captain Sam Warburton and Real Madrid football star Gareth Bale.
If there is extra emotion, it’s because Thomas’s win has been a long time in the making.
A key helper in Froome’s previous four Tour wins, there was a general feeling on this race -backed by a superb win in the Criterium du Dauphine stage race and fears that Froome’s Giro d’Italia-winning efforts would soon tell -- that it may be time for payback.
Two back-to-back wins in the high Alps, when Thomas earned an “incredible” victory atop the legendary Alpe d’Huez, cemented his status as Team Sky’s leader over Froome, who dropped to 1min 39sec behind. From then on, Thomas rode to perfection, using cunning, race tactics and sheer determination on a suffer-fest that he will never forget. “That was the most I’d ever suffered, day in, day out,” said Thomas.