DAINAMITE!
Thomas first Welshman to wear Yellow
GERAINT THOMAS became only the eighth Brit and – first ever Welshman – to wear the Tour de France leader’s Yellow Jersey after being inspired by pal Sam Warburton’s British Lions.
Thomas spent the morning on the Team Sky physio’s couch watching Warburton – another Whitchurch High School old boy from Cardiff – conquer the All Blacks in Wellington.
Hours later Chris Froome’s faithful minder, often the best supporting act in the peloton, produced a storming run in the time-trial first stage (left).
And on a fabulous day for Sky, defending champion Va Va Froome took around half a minute out of all his main rivals.
It was wet, wet, wet on the banks of the Rhine, but double Olympic track gold medallist Thomas, 31, was home and dry in 16mins 4secs to crown his greatest day on the road. At home, Thomas has renovated the villa near Chepstow where he got married two years ago into a wedding venue for hire.
Until yesterday’s Grand Depart in the 104th edition of cycling’s greatest race, he had always been the bridesmaid but never the bride for Team Sky.
Thomas was earmarked as one of the favourite for the Giro d’italia in May, but pulled out injured after colliding with a police motorbike.
But after spending almost an hour in the clubhouse leader’s hotseat, watching 44 rivals who left the starting gate after him fail to last the pace, he will never forget his maiden Grand Tour stage win.
Thomas said: “This is my eighth Tour de France – to win a stage at last is incredible. The Yellow Jersey is an amazing cherry.
“Of course I want to send massive congrats to Sam and the boys in New Zealand. It was fantastic to watch and they certainly inspired me today.
“I’m still not quite sure what to think. I used to run home from school to watch the Tour on TV after pleading with my dad to buy the channels.
“It was agony to sit in the hotseat. For a while I went on the turbos and chatted to the other guys to take my mind off who was out on the course.
“I kept thinking someone like Tony Martin was going to beat me.
“The Giro was a big disappointment, so it’s nice not to have any bad luck. Almost immediately [after leaving the Giro] I set the goal to come here and do the best job I could.” Super G follows Tom Simpson, Chris Boardman, Sean Yates, David Millar, Bradley Wiggins, Froome and Mark Cavendish into Britain’s hall of Yellow Jersey fame.
Last man down the ramp, Froome came home just eight seconds behind Thomas in sixth place.
But more importantly, he gained crucial time on key outright race rivals Simon Yates (25 seconds), Richie Porte (35 secs), Nairo Quintana (36 secs), and Jakob Fuglsang (42secs).
Fellow Brit Scott Thwaites, marked his maiden Tour with a crash and power slide across the wet tarmac.
He later tweeted there was “no harm done” but no such luck for Spain’s Alejandro Valverde, who suffered a broken kneecap after skidding into a barrier. Thousands turned out to support German star Martin but he faded and came home fourth in 16mins 12secs.