Thomas triumph
Cyclist and netball team win at SPOTY
‘I should have thought of what I was going to say. It is an amazing way to finish an amazing year’
An extraordinary week for cycling and for Team Sky ended last night with 2018 Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas being crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham.
Thomas, 32, beat Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton into second place, with England striker Harry Kane third.
As ever with SPOTY, though, there was just as much debate over those who failed to make the cut as those who did. Georgia Hall, who won her first major title with a twoshot victory at the Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes, was omitted from the sixperson shortlist, her contribution to the sporting year given just 10 seconds of airtime during the glitzy ceremony. As was Tyson Fury, who climbed off the canvas earlier this month to secure a dramatic draw with heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in Los Angeles.
In a new departure this year, the list of nominees was cut to just six athletes who were only revealed live on the night. And for the first time in years, there was no breakdown of the final vote afterwards, meaning it was impossible to tell just how close the voting had been.
The BBC said this was consistent with other shows such as Strictly Come Dancing.
Athlete Dina Asher-smith, skeleton athlete Lizzy Yarnold and cricketer James Anderson were the three others on the six-person list drawn up by a 12-member panel of former athletes and industry experts.
Thomas was generally hailed a worthy winner, victory completing a remarkable week for the two-time Olympic champion who heard on Tuesday night that Team Sky’s backers would be pulling the plug on their 10-year, £180million sponsorship deal at the end of 2019.
That development has plunged the Welsh rider’s future, and those of his team-mates, into doubt, although Thomas made light of the situation in an interview with The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, saying he was confident team principal Sir Dave Brailsford would find a new partner as he was “not flogging second-hand flip flops”.
Thomas, who began this summer’s Tour as backup to Chris Froome and memorably celebrated with a mic drop on the Champs-elysees podium, becomes the fifth Welshman to win the BBC award after golfer Dai Rees, show jumper David Broome, boxer Joe Calzaghe and footballer Ryan Giggs. Incredibly, the Cardiff-born rider also becomes the fourth cyclist to win in just 10 years following in the wheel tracks of Sir Chris Hoy, Mark Cavendish and Sir Bradley Wiggins.
He was presented with his award by last year’s winner, Sir Mo Farah, and initially appeared lost for words. “Wow. Thank you,” he said. “I really should have thought about what I was going to say.”
It was actually the second award of the day for the 32-year-old, who was handed a replacement Tour de France trophy during an appearance on Sunday Brunch on Channel 4, after his original was stolen from the NEC earlier this autumn.
Thomas went on to thank wife Sara and team manager Brailsford. “I’ve been under him – oh, that sounds dodgy – I’ve been with him since the age of 17…,” he joked.
Speaking backstage later, Thomas did not venture an opinion as to why Froome had never won the award despite winning the Tour four times in six years, not to mention the Giro d’italia and the Vuelta a Espana. He did, though, thank all of his supporters for voting.
A big Arsenal fan, Thomas had appealed for them to back him up against Kane. And he clearly benefited from being the only Welsh nominee on the list, with a number of high-profile Welshmen urging their followers to vote for him including Sam Warburton, George North and Rob Brydon.
Kane had been the bookies favourite to win the award, having led England to the semi-finals of this summer’s World Cup in Russia where he claimed the Golden Boot for top scorer. But not even a live performance of this summer’s retro anthem Football’s Coming Home, by the song’s original singers The Lightning Seeds, with David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, could swing it for the Tottenham man.
There was, meanwhile, outrage on social media over the exclusion of Fury from the shortlist. The boxer had been fourth favourite with the bookies heading into the event. Fury may have suffered from the fact that the list was drawn up three weeks ago, before his fight with Wilder actually took place.
Although the panel reconvened in the wake of that fight, and discussed amending the list, it was decided that a nomination for Sporting Moment of the Year was sufficient recognition. It is difficult
to escape the impression, however, that past controversies may have been a factor. In 2015, the BBC had to fend off huge pressure to drop Fury from its shortlist after he made a string of sexist, homophobic and anti-semitic remarks. Fury also served a two-year doping ban after testing positive for a banned steroid in February 2015.
The final word, though, went to main man Thomas. Asked backstage why it was that cycling seemed to produce so many winners, he shook his head.
“It’s an unbelievable era for cycling,” he said. “It’s a big sport, success has brought that.
“I’ve grown up watching this, in my front room on the sofa. Honestly, when I walked up on stage I was shaking a little bit. It’s certainly an amazing way to finish an amazing year.”