Tour victory is all but clinched for Thomas
Welshman enjoys a lead of almost two minutes going into the final stage at Paris.
ESPELETTE, France — No longer merely a support rider for Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas is going to Paris in the yellow jersey.
The Welshman with Team Sky effectively sealed his first Tour de France title by protecting his lead in the time trial on the penultimate stage Saturday.
Thomas takes an advantage of 1 minute 51 seconds over Tom Dumoulin into the mostly ceremonial finish on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday.
“It’s just overwhelming,” Thomas said. “I didn’t think about it all race, and now suddenly I won the Tour.”
Dumoulin won the 20th stage by one second ahead of four-time champion Froome, who leapfrogged Primoz Roglic into third place overall.
Thomas finished third in the stage, 14 seconds behind. But that was more than enough with an advantage of more than two minutes at the start of the day.
“The strongest guy has won this Tour de France,” Froome said. “Tomorrow, to stand up on the podium with G, it’s going to be a really proud moment for me.”
Thomas was a support rider during Froome’s title rides but he became Sky’s undisputed leader when Froome cracked in the difficult 17th stage through the Pyrenees.
Thomas and Froome have been together since their days on the small Barloworld team a decade ago.
“Because we’ve been teammates and friends for so long, it made it easier to communicate honestly,” Froome said. “It was clear as soon as we hit the Alps that Geraint was in better physical condition than me. It was pretty simple, really.”