Winning the Tour de France has changed my life. I was in a car park and Messi came over to chat. How nuts is that! GERAINT THOMAS
PRINCE of wheels Geraint Thomas discovered the mystical power of the fabled Yellow Jersey when Lionel Messi presented him with a signed shirt.
When another of his sporting heroes, Arsene Wenger, rang to congratulate him on his Tour de France triumph, at first Thomas thought it was former team-mate Sir Bradley Wiggins – an acc om p l i s h e d impersonator – mimicking the former Arsenal manager.
And one of the favourites for tonight’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year award never thought he would be sharing a sofa with Hollywood superstar Nicole Kidman ( right) on Graham Norton’s chat show.
Only four Welsh athletes have won SPOTY – Dai Rees, David Broome, Joe Calzaghe and Ryan Giggs.
And only four cyclists have lifted the famous tripod camera trophy – Wiggins, Sir Chris Hoy, Mark Cavendish and Tom Simpson.
“I’m not going to lie, I’d love to make it five cyclists and five Welshmen,” said Thomas, after a hard day back in the saddle in the maritime Alps above his Monaco base.
“Like the Tour, it’s one of those events you remember watching in the front room as a kid. It’s such an iconic trophy, and the fact it’s awarded as a public vote makes it very special.
“Just to be in the frame is humbling. To win it would d be the perfect end to an amazing year.”
For years, t he ride r known throughhout the peloton n as
‘ G’ was Chris
Froome’s faithful f l sidekick. id ki k
But 2018 was the year when Thomas the flank engine became Team Sky’s chief locomotive. And when he takes to the red carpet in Birmingham tonight, he will be only yards from th the spot where his Tou Tour de France troph trophy – the Coupe Om Omnisports – w was stolen after i it was on display at the Cycle Show.
It’s not been r recovered and a replacement tro trophy has been com commissioned. Tho Thomas said: “A “Apparently, tl they had the guy on CCTV, but, as far as I know, the trail’s gone cold.
“It’s probably a nice fruit bowl