“Bike racing is all I have ever known,” saysGeraint Thomasof the 19-year professional career that will end this summer with one final Tour de France and a farewell appearance in the Tour of Britain.
While many of his peers are relishing a Tadej Pogacar-free Giro d’Italia that starts on Friday,the 2018 Tour winnerhas opted against three weeks in Italy, favouring one last ride in July’s French hothouse.
Thomas’s racing career was founded on success in Olympic track racing: he wonteam pursuit gold at Beijing 2008and London 2012. But it developed into memorable victories on the road at the Tour de France,Paris-Nice, theTours of SwitzerlandandRomandieandthe Critérium du Dauphiné.
He has achieved far more than he ever expected, when, he says, as a teenager, he was “dreaming about national titles”. There have been many near misses, most painfully in the 2023 Giro, when helet the race lead slip to Primoz Roglicon the penultimate day. Not for the first time, there were tears.
“It’s certainly been up and down but you just remember the good times,” he says. “Even the bad times are character building, by getting through them, learning from it and growing from it. It makes you stronger for sure.”
In modern racing there is little scope for sentiment, but he says his final-season schedule allows a little leeway for races that bring out the romantic in him. “It’s a combination of both. There’s a bit of romance in it, but it is still about racing, preparation and being as good as I can for July.”
For a rider who once rode a whole Tour de France with a broken pelvis, resilience and durability have always been his strongest suits. He has been taken out by discarded bottles, in-race motorbikes, freak wind gusts and, occasionally, his peers. As his former coach and mentor Rod Ellingworth said: “There’s no bullshit with Geraint. That’s what I’ve always liked with him.”
Thomas’s focus is on racing with honour in one final Tour de France. He will be 39 when the race starts in Lille on 5 July; has he still got that famed resilience and durability?
“A lot of it is in the head. Obviously it’s physical as well, but I still want to do it. I still want to perform well and be there in the final week. It’s all about going in, in the best shape you can, and once you’re in it, about your mental approach and staying strong and positive.
“It’s a different mindset this year as I’m not going for the general classification. It’s been a little too relaxed maybe, so it’s time to knuckle down, diet and everything.”
Thomas has seen generations of riders morph physically as performance data, technology and nutrition have increasingly taken hold. “Bike riders have always been skinny,” he says. “It’s more the whole package. Everyone is just stronger. Everyone is training better.
“Losing those few kilos makes a big difference these days. They always have done, but even more so now the whole peloton is getting better. Before, it was just a couple of people in every team going to altitude or whatever, but now it’s whole teams that are on it.”
Thomas will leave Ineos Grenadiers in a better place than 12 months ago, when internal wrangles and uncertainty over the future ofTom Pidcock– now with the Q36.5 team – led to tension.
Last July,Thomas had bemoaned a lack of “clarity”and likened the Ineos Grenadiers team management to a “coalition government”. But he is quick to dismiss any suggestion that the Pidcock polemics stalled the team’s progress.
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“I don’t think whatever issues Tom had were the reason for the whole team lacking a couple of results. I miss him, he’d still be great to have around. He’s still riding well, isn’t he?”
“The narrative around the team is a big thing. I stay in my own little bubble, most of the time, and I’ve still been able to be successful. Now that there are more positive stories about the way the team is racing, that also helps. When people are writing negative stuff all the time it’s easy to believe it.”
There are rumours Thomas will move into management with Ineos Grenadiers soon after he retires. “It’s been mentioned, but it’s something I haven’t spoken properly about. I love cycling and the team, so would love to stay involved in some capacity.
“I’ve been used to targeting races and going after something and really dedicating myself, so if I just go home to Cardiff, take Max to school and do nothing the rest of the day, I’ll go insane after a week.
“I think I’ve got a lot to offer on performance and going after bike races. There’d be a lot to learn as well, which is also exciting. It all depends on the role I’d end up doing, but that’s the type of challenge I’d be looking for.”
His final race, the Tour of Britain, due to end in Cardiff on 7 September, will take him back to where it all began. “It’ll be amazing,” he says. “It will be full circle: finishing my career on the roads in Cardiff. There will be lots of friends and family there. I can’t think of a better way to finish.”