Now the sky’s the limit
THOMAS: TEAM PREPARE £3M DEAL AFTER STUNNING TOUR DE FRANCE WIN
Welshman plans to keep feet on ground amid all the fame.
Geraint Thomas thinks life has been “insane” since he stood in the yellow jersey and proudly held aloft the Welsh flag on the podium in Paris as Tour de France champion – but the madness may just be beginning.
The likeable softly-spoken 32-year-old, who lives in Monaco, will have to get used to transforming from kingmaker for Chris Froome to the king himself, and that won’t come easy, according to 2012 Tour de France champion and former Team Sky team-mate Bradley Wiggins.
“He’ll feel the same inside but people’s perception of him will change,” Wiggins said on Eurosport.
“Everything will be different now. He won’t be able to walk down the street in Wales now without people coming up to him.
“I think he may now be Wales’ biggest sports star.”
Being described as Wales’ top sports star is some accolade for Thomas, the one-time shy schoolboy from Cardiff’s Whitchurch High School, which also produced the three years younger duo of former Wales and British and Irish Lions rugby captain Sam Warburton and Real Madrid football superstar Gareth Bale.
“It is insane, all of us close to each other and incredible for a school in Cardiff,” Thomas told Channel 4 News earlier this week.
Wales have begun celebrating its latest sporting hero on the eve of his win – illuminating its ancient castles spread out across the land in luminous yellow, the colour of the winner’s jersey.
However a humbled Thomas – who said seeing the reaction on Twitter after he had stepped off the podium was “bonkers” – hopes he will be able to manage fame in the same way as Chris Hoy, the British track cycling legend he regards as a mentor.
“I have no idea what it will be like but I saw Chris Hoy after the win – he was super nice,” he said.
“He is a massive role model as he hasn’t changed and is still down to earth and who you want to be like.”
Further accolades may be in the offing for Thomas and he is already second favourite behind Harry Kane to be named the prestigious BBC Sports Personality-ofthe Year in December – a sizeable popular vote from Wales alone could swing it his way – while an honour from Queen Elizabeth II cannot be discounted either.
At his age one last lucrative contract awaits him and even though he feels great affinity with Team Sky and their boss Dave Brailsford, sentiment will not dictate his decision about a new one as his present deal terminates at the end of the year.
The Daily Telegraph claim Thomas will be offered a deals worth £3 million a year by Sky.
“I will listen to other teams of course but I have been with people like Fran Millar (director of business operations) and Dave Brailsford since I was 17 and they are like family to me.
“But they have to come up with a good deal, it is an exciting time,” he said. –