The cyclist born to be in yellow '“ Geraint Thomas and the making of a new Tour de France hero
Geraint Thomas is on the brink of becoming the first ever Welsh cyclist to win the Tour de France.
It’s been a long journey for the two-time Olympic champion who is cycling’s ultimate team man.
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Hide AdPrior to the 2014 Grand Depart in Yorkshire, he gave a revealing interview on what the sport meant to him – and his brushes with injury.
This is what he said.
GERAINT THOMAS has seen it all on
his bike. He has the medals and scars
to prove it. He’s the double Olympic
team pursuit champion who pedalled
2,000 miles with a fractured pelvis to
help Team Sky’s talisman Chris Froome
make Tour de France history last year.
Yet even this selfless hero is surprised
by the scale of this weekend’s Grand
Départ in Yorkshire, the sheer number
of cyclists on the region’s roads and the
1,000 bright yellow bicycles adorning
roundabouts along the route. “It’s nuts
here,” he observed.
Perhaps not the most eloquent
words spoken by a top sportsman in
the UK, their profoundness should
not be under-estimated. Spoken from
the heart, their rawness does, in fact,
offer a unique perspective – from the
saddle – on cycling’s journey into the
public’s consciousness, the staggering
enthusiasm for a sporting event
without comparison in Yorkshire and
how the whole country can benefit
from an ethos that has seen Britain
become the fastest nation on two
wheels.
For, while the eyes of the world will
inevitably be on Froome, and also star
sprinter Mark Cavendish’s quest to
win tomorrow’s opening stage in his
mother’s home town of Harrogate,
the eminently likable Thomas’s own
story of success explains why cycling
commands a higher profile than
cricket and a host of other mainstream
sports.
They’re important lessons about
community initiatives, a winning
mentality and having no regrets that
should not go unnoticed ahead of a
momentous weekend for sport in
Yorkshire – and Britain.
Despite the pressures on the public
finances, grassroots sport does matter
– and don’t let any penny-pinching
politician say otherwise. Even though
this engaging Welshman went to the
same state school as Gareth Bale, the
world’s most expensive footballer, and
British and Irish Lions skipper Sam
Warburton, he is an accidental cyclist.
“I was going swimming at the local
leisure centre and they had a kids’ club
which had just started. I made friends
and that was it,” recalled the 28-yearold.
“When I was a kid, cycling was a
niche sport. If your dad didn’t do it, or
someone in your family, you didn’t get
involved. It’s weird because everyone
has a bike when they’re a kid.”
Sustained sporting success does
also matter, another nod to those in
charge of the nation’s purse-strings.
Even though Thomas was already
a junior world champion when the
relatively unknown Jason Queally won
an unexpected gold on day one of the
2000 Sydney Olympics, he believes
that victory at the velodrome – and the
sheer simplicity of riders racing against
the clock – began Britain’s cycling
revolution and helped to power record
levels of interest in the sport.
“It started with the track. Definitely.
Focusing on the timed events, you
knew where you were or what you
had to do. It was against the clock,
the public could understand that. In
Sydney, we were successful. In Beijing,
we couldn’t have done better – the
sprinters won everything. Between
Beijing and London, you had Cav
winning 20-odd stages of the Tour and
Wiggo (Sir Bradley Wiggins) doing his
thing. Then Froomey. Crazy. The more
it is on the TV, and in the papers, the
more people become aware of cycling
and say ‘I’ll watch it’ and then get their
kids involved.”
As such, Thomas’s advice to children
as millions of spectators prepare to line
the route of the Tour’s first two stages
could not be more simple – or to the
point. “Do it with mates,” he says. “It’s
a great way to get outside. It’s a bit of
adventure when you’re young and you
go even five miles away. If you want to
race, look up your club on the internet.
See what is out there. Meet people and
away you go.”
In other words, parents need to be
encouraged to embrace cycling and
local councils should, in my opinion,
make sure every future planning
applications passes a cycle-friendliness
test – just because there is more traffic
on the road must not be a barrier to
children being able to ride for fun.
Yet it is the team dynamic to cycling
that so resonates with Thomas, who
uses a footballing analogy to describe
his sacrificial role as one of the cogs,
albeit an important one, within Team
Sky’s wheel of success. “Froomey is the
striker – I’d say our Wayne Rooney, but
I’d better not after the World Cup. More
your Robin van Persie! The rest of the
team are there to support him and set
him up. It is all geared to keeping him
out of trouble, protecting him from the
cross winds, and conserving as much
energy as possible for the big climbs.”
If only England’s footballers
appreciated this – and recognised the
sacrifices that cyclists make for their
team in a sport that Thomas likens, at
times, to “chess on wheels” because
of the tactics. On the opening stage
of last year’s Tour in Corsica, Thomas
fractured his pelvis during a pile-up.
Paris was still three weeks and 2,000
miles away. He refused to give up,
an attitude that puts to shame those
and team-mate Richie Porte. “Not
dead yet?” remarked Froome rather
sarcastically. “Go on, boys,” roared
Thomas. Froome’s recently-published
autobiography, The Climb, puts this
contribution into even more painful
perspective: “There was a crack in his
pelvis; on the X-ray, it looked like a
river. For normal people, this would
mean ceasing all activity. For G it
meant somebody had to give him a
hand getting his leg over the saddle.
After about five or six kilometres riding
on the big open promenade, Geraint
started moving up through the line. He
came and did a turn; he sustained our
high speed. What a lift. He filtered back
through the line, roaring in his Welsh
accent ‘Let’s have it! Gooo on! We’re
gonna do this!’ There was a buzz... he’d
left us with no excuses.”
Unsurprisingly, Thomas’s objective
tomorrow is a modest one: “Just stay
upright and not crash.” His mum, for
one, will be relieved. His second wish
is for Mark Cavendish to win the sprint
finish – and Chris Froome to emerge
unscathed from the Yorkshire Dales.
And his third priority is perhaps the
most profound.
“For people of all ages to realise the
enjoyment and pleasure that cycling
can provide. Just get on your bike and
see where it takes you.”
It’s what Geraint Thomas did and his
reward is a money-can’t-buy seat for
the Grand Départ – on the back of his
very own racing bicycle. And it could be
one of this weekend’s young spectators
if the Tour creates a lasting legacy.
Who’s next?
molly-coddled footballers who feign
injury at every tackle.
“I saw it as a challenge to see
what I could do,” he says. “All that
commitment, all that training, and to
crash on day one. The first five days
were the worst. The boys got a lot from
me just getting through. It was just
excruciating. I could pedal, it was ok. It
was the top part of my pelvis. My whole
left side and hip was beaten up so I
couldn’t get much power out of the left.
I was pedalling with one leg. I couldn’t
really get out of the saddle for the whole
race. People told me to stop, my mum
said it would be ok if I did, but I couldn’t
because I knew I could help later in
the race.”
He did. In an astonishing act
of sporting defiance, the virtually
one-legged Thomas surged to the
front of the peloton to join Froome
and team-mate Richie Porte. “Not
dead yet?” remarked Froome rather
sarcastically. “Go on, boys,” roared
Thomas. Froome’s recently-published
autobiography, The Climb, puts this
contribution into even more painful
perspective: “There was a crack in his
pelvis; on the X-ray, it looked like a
river. For normal people, this would
mean ceasing all activity. For G it
meant somebody had to give him a
hand getting his leg over the saddle.
After about five or six kilometres riding
on the big open promenade, Geraint
started moving up through the line. He
came and did a turn; he sustained our
high speed. What a lift. He filtered back
through the line, roaring in his Welsh
accent ‘Let’s have it! Gooo on! We’re
gonna do this!’ There was a buzz... he’d
left us with no excuses.”
Unsurprisingly, Thomas’s objective
tomorrow is a modest one: “Just stay
upright and not crash.” His mum, for
one, will be relieved. His second wish
is for Mark Cavendish to win the sprint
finish – and Chris Froome to emerge
unscathed from the Yorkshire Dales.
And his third priority is perhaps the
most profound.
“For people of all ages to realise the
enjoyment and pleasure that cycling
can provide. Just get on your bike and
see where it takes you.”
It’s what Geraint Thomas did and his
reward is a money-can’t-buy seat for
the Grand Départ – on the back of his
very own racing bicycle. And it could be
one of this weekend’s young spectators
if the Tour creates a lasting legacy.
Who’s next?