Now there’s no doubting Thomas...
4-1 Raced wide prominent, led over 4f out, headed over 2f out, ridden to lead again over 1f out, ran on, won at Southwell 1m hcp (6) fbs in Nov beating Sooqaan by 2 1/4l, 11 ran. 13-2 Dwelt in rear, ridden and headway over 1f out, led just inside final furlong, won going away, won at Southwell 1m hcp 0-70 (5) fbs in Dec beating Zodiakos by 2 3/4l, 10 ran. 5-1 Slowly into stride, towards rear, headway 3f out, ridden over 1f out, stayed on to go 2nd towards finish, 2nd of 12, 1l behind Robero at Southwell 7f hcp 0-75 (5) fbs in Dec. 25-1 Chased leader until over 2f out, weakening when hung left over 1f out, 12th of 13, 18l behind Mr Red Clubs at Wolverhampton 1m 1f am hcp 0-75 (5) in Dec.
9-2 Tracked leaders, ridden 2f out, faded inside final furlong, 5th of 8, 2l behind Treaty Of Rome at Southwell 1m hcp 0-75 (5) fbs in Apr.
17-2 Outpaced towards rear, late headway, no chance with leading trio, 4th of 13, 4 1/2l behind Jabarout at Southwell 7f hcp (6) fbs in Dec.
14-1 Prominent, clear with leader halfway, ridden to lead 2f out, headed just inside final furlong, soon weakened, 8th of 10, 7l behind Showboating at Southwell 1m hcp 0-70 (5) fbs in Dec.
In touch, ridden over 2f out, weakened, last of 11, 24l behind Robero at Wolverhampton 7f hcp 0-75 (5) in Dec. IT is hard to think there could have been a more popular winner of the Tour de France.
British victories were in danger of getting old – certainly in the eyes of some (mostly) French fans who were none too subtle in expressing their dislike of Chris Froome’s dominance.
But who could possibly have beef with Geraint Thomas?
The Welshman has made a career out of unassuming excellence.
As a two-time Olympic champion and three-time world champion on the track and winner of a string of stage races and national titles on the road, he has a record to compete with most, but barely an ego to mention.
Thomas has instead been the consummate team man, ready to put aside his own ambitions in favour of the greater goals.
He rode in all four of Froome’s Tour wins, with his commitment to the cause extending to riding virtually the entire 2013 Tour with a broken pelvis following an opening stage crash.
When it came to his own ambitions it seemed there was always bad luck – mostly crashes that were not his fault – but never a sob story. Thomas just picked himself up and moved on to the next one.
As Froome’s Salbutamol case dragged on through the first part of the year and threatened his participation in the Tour, Thomas had prepared himself to step up into the role of team leader if required.
But Froome was cleared days before the race started, and Thomas arrived in France seemingly back where he started – the super-domestique whose own ambitions were to be an afterthought.
He sat through Sky’s entire prerace press conference without even being asked a question until the event broke into smaller huddles.
And though he continued to tell anyone who would listen he would be allowed to race and leadership would be decided on the road, the message from the team seemed to indicate they were firmly back on Plan A – and there to ride for Froome.
Sky could have been bluffing, but if not, a team known for attention to every detail seemed to have badly underestimated their own man.
Perhaps they were expecting something to go wrong for Thomas as it so often had before.
Instead he rode the perfect race, defying the dangers of the first week as he stayed upright where others tumbled, then turning on the style in the mountains.
But if Sky were surprised, Thomas seemed to be in shock at times and reverted to talking up Froome as leader.
It was only after stage 14 to Mende that he finally began to sound comfortable in yellow.
And once the race was in the Pyrenees, it was clear nobody could touch him.
Nor could anyone find a bad word to say. Plenty of fans – and others – arrived at this year’s Tour eager to hate Team Sky after the latest round of controversies, but with Thomas as their standard-bearer the vitriol was soon muted.
He has paid his dues many times. He deserved the greatest of rewards.
The Welshman has made a career out of unassumeing
excellence