Geraint Thomas

Early and personal life

Born in Birchgrove, Cardiff, Thomas attended Whitchurch High School. He began cycling with the Maindy Flyers Cycling Club at Maindy Stadium at the age of 10, where he rode with future Team Sky teammate Luke Rowe, before going on to ride for other local clubs, Cycling Club Cardiff and Cardiff Just in Front. His first race bike was a blue Giant. Following some successes in under 14 and under 16 events, including National Championships, his first notable success came when he won silver medal in the points race at the European Championships.

Thomas met his partner, Sara Elen Thomas, through an introduction from a cycling friend. The couple reside in Monaco, and got married in Wales in October 2015.

Early years

Thomas became a member of British Cycling's Olympic Academy. He won the Carwyn James Junior Award at the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year ceremony. Thomas competed at World Cup events around the world, and was training in Sydney, Australia, in February 2005 when he crashed after the rider in front of him hit a piece of metal in the road which was flicked up into Thomas' wheel. He suffered internal bleeding after the piece of metal entered his body during the fall, rupturing his spleen which subsequently had to be removed.

He rode most of his races of 2006 for Recycling.co.uk, but towards the end of 2006 joined Saunier Duval–Prodir as a stagiaire. He also rode a few races, such as the Tour of Britain, for the Great Britain squad.

2007

Thomas was the youngest rider in the Tour de France as Barloworld picked up one of the three wildcard spots allocated for the race. He became the first Welsh rider to compete in the race since Colin Lewis in 1967, Thomas received great support from Welsh fans at the opening of the race, with several following the entire race. He completed his first Tour de France, finishing 140th of 141 finishers.

He was nominated for the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year award in 2007, the winners were announced on 2 December, Thomas was third in the public vote.

2008

Thomas did not compete in the Tour de France, instead, he rode the Giro d'Italia earlier in the season before returning to Britain to concentrate on preparations for the Summer Olympics in Beijing. On discovering that the flags of non-participating nations would not be allowed at the Games, Thomas said: "It would be great to do a lap of honour draped in the Welsh flag if I win a gold medal, and I'm very disappointed if this rule means that would not be possible."

On 17 August Thomas was a member of the Olympic team pursuit squad which broke the world record in the heats with a time of 3:55.202, beating their Russian opponents comfortably to go through to the final ride-off for silver and gold. The following day, on their way to winning the gold medal, the British Team pursuit broke their own world record in a time of 3:53.314, beating their Danish competitors by 6.7 seconds. Thomas had been a possible contender in the individual pursuit, but opted not to ride both events as he did not want to compromise the efforts of his team. He had also been considered to compete in the Madison with Bradley Wiggins but it was Mark Cavendish who was selected to do so; Chris Boardman stated that "Geraint keeps surpassing people's expectations".

Following the disqualification of fellow Barloworld teammate, Moisés Dueñas, from the Tour de France, Thomas expressed his strong anti-doping opinions on his blog on the BBC 6-0-6 website: "..if someone is fraudulent in a business, wouldn't they be facing a prison term? I don't see how riders taking drugs to win races and lying to their teams is any different. Bang them up and throw away the key!"

In December, he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.

2009

Thomas suffered a bad start to his 2009 season when he broke his pelvis and fractured his nose in a fall; he crashed into a safety barrier having misjudged a turn in the time trial stage of the Tirreno–Adriatico in Macerata, Italy. The crash came shortly after an 8 km (5.0 mi) time check showed he was second fastest on the road. Although he was able to return to his team hotel from hospital the same day, a period of 20 days complete rest was required before he would be able to resume training.

On 30 October 2009, Thomas set the fastest pursuit time under current rules, at the time, when he completed 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) in 4:15.105 at the first round of the 2009–10 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics at Manchester Velodrome. Thomas' time was only surpassed by Chris Boardman's 4:11.114, set in 1996 on a bicycle position that had since been banned. On 1 November, on the last day of the World Cup round, Thomas was a member of the team pursuit squad which set the second-fastest time ever on their way to the gold medal, setting a new track record of 3 minutes 54.395 seconds in the process.

Thomas was runner-up to Ryan Giggs in the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year award in 2009; the winners were announced on 8 December. He left Barloworld at the end of 2009 to join new British team, Team Sky.

2010

Thomas began 2010 as part of the team time trial winning team for Sky at the Tour of Qatar. After competing in the classics, he impressed at the Critérium du Dauphiné, finishing in the top ten in each of the opening four stages. As a result of these finishes, he was the leader in green jersey competition for stages two, four and six. He finished fifth in the green jersey competition overall, and twenty-first in the general classification.

Thomas beat teammate Peter Kennaugh to win the 2010 British National Road Race Championships. His good form continued into the Tour de France, in which he finished fifth in the prologue and second on stage three. This led to him leading the young rider classification after stage three. Thomas finished 67th overall in the Tour, and ninth in the young rider classification.

Thomas had been due to travel to Delhi, India in September to compete in the Commonwealth Games, but pulled out, as did several other cyclists, due to health concerns. Dengue fever was one specific concern cited. Illness was especially a risk for Thomas following the removal of his spleen in 2005. Following the decision, Thomas said "It's a massive disappointment, I only get to ride for Wales once every four years, but that's the decision I had to make."

2011

Thomas started 2011 with some promising performances in the classics, finishing sixth in the Classica Sarda and second in the Dwars door Vlaanderen before placing tenth in the Tour of Flanders Thomas claimed his first professional victory in May, by winning the five-day Bayern-Rundfahrt race, after finishing second on stage 3 and fifth on stage 4. On 26 June 2011, Thomas finished second to Bradley Wiggins in the British National Road Race Championships.

At the Tour de France, Thomas finished sixth on the opening stage to take the white jersey. He retained the jersey the following day, as Sky finished third in the team time trial. Thomas lost the white jersey to Robert Gesink on stage 7, as team leader Bradley Wiggins crashed out of the Tour, and the remaining Sky riders lost time after waiting for him. Thomas won the combativity award on the 212 km (132 mi) stage 12, following an aggressive breakaway 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) into the first Pyrenean stage, that saw him lose control twice on the descent of La Hourquette d'Ancizan. He finished 36th on the stage after being caught by the general classification leaders with 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) to go on the final climb of the day, and rose to 25th overall. Thomas signed a new three-year contract with Sky after stage 16. He finished 31st overall in the Tour.

Thomas had a successful Tour of Britain, winning the points classification, having been highly placed in the overall standings before a crash. He was part of the Great Britain team for the road race at the UCI Road World Championships, and helped lead out Mark Cavendish to victory.

2012

Thomas focused on track cycling for the 2012 season, competing at the Summer Olympics in London. As such, the Giro d'Italia was his road race priority, before turning his focus to the track. In March, Thomas did ride Paris–Nice, where he helped Bradley Wiggins take overall victory. On 4 April Thomas was a member of the British team pursuit team that won gold at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Melbourne, with a new world record of 3:53.295 seconds. He also teamed up with Ben Swift to take the silver medal in the madison. Thomas then returned to the road, winning the prologue of the Tour de Romandie.

Thomas finished second behind Taylor Phinney in the opening time trial of the Giro d'Italia. Thomas acted as lead out man to Mark Cavendish in the race, helping him to three stage victories. Thomas also finished second to Marco Pinotti in the final stage time trial in Milan.

Thomas was selected in the team pursuit team for the Olympics, along with Steven Burke, Ed Clancy and Peter Kennaugh. On 2 August the quartet set a new world record of 3:52.499 in the first heat of the event. The team set the fastest time in the first round, setting up a final with Australia to decide the gold medal winners. In the final, the British team set another world record of 3:51.659, finishing nearly three seconds ahead of the Australians, with Thomas retaining his gold medal in the event.

2013

Thomas began the 2013 season at the Tour Down Under. He won stage 2 after attacking on the Corkscrew climb, and outsprinting three riders that had joined him on the descent. Thomas held the race lead until the penultimate stage, where he cracked on Old Willunga Hill and dropped to fifth overall. However, he fought back on the final stage in Adelaide, taking enough bonus seconds to rise to third place overall, 25 seconds behind Dutch rider Tom-Jelte Slagter, and won the sprints classification.

Thomas was given a leadership role in Sky's Classics campaign. His best results were a couple of fourth places in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and E3 Harelbeke, as he crashed out of contention in Milan–San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix. After a break, Thomas returned to action at the Bayern-Rundfahrt, where he finished second overall. He showed excellent climbing form at the Critérium du Dauphiné, helping Chris Froome and Richie Porte secure a 1–2 overall finish, whilst also placing 15th overall himself.

He was selected to ride the Tour de France, but crashed heavily on the opening stage. Thomas started the next stage but struggled, finishing second last and after returning to hospital was found to have a fractured pelvis. Despite his injury, Thomas continued, and managed to finish the Tour in 140th place, helping Froome take overall victory.

2014

Thomas once again started the season at the Tour Down Under, this time riding in support of Richie Porte, and finishing eighth overall. Thomas was again scheduled to support Porte at Paris–Nice, but an injury to Froome meant that Porte was switched to Tirreno–Adriatico, leaving Thomas to lead the squad in France. Thomas performed strongly, finishing second to Garmin–Sharp's Tom-Jelte Slagter on the fourth stage, to take the leader's yellow jersey, before dropping to second behind Carlos Betancur on the sixth stage. The next day however, Thomas hit a tree on a descent 5 km (3.1 mi) from the finish; although he would complete the stage some seven minutes in arrears, Thomas did not start the final stage. Thomas recovered to take his good form into the Classics season, finishing third in E3 Harelbeke. He led Team Sky at the Tour of Flanders and managed an eighth-place finish, 37 seconds behind the winning rider, Fabian Cancellara, having had to chase back after being dropped on the Taaienberg climb. Thomas also secured a hard-fought seventh position in Paris–Roubaix, finishing as part of a group twenty seconds behind solo winner Niki Terpstra having been active in an earlier break with Tom Boonen.

In May, Thomas won the overall classification at Bayern-Rundfahrt for the second time in his career, after winning the individual time trial on Stage 4.

In the Tour de France, Thomas acted as a domestique to Sky teammate Richie Porte, following the withdrawal of his compatriot Chris Froome on stage five. Porte soon fell down the overall standings after suffering badly on stage thirteen to Chamrousse. Thomas was then given the freedom to go for stage wins and appeared in a number of breakaways. Thomas was the only Briton to finish the race, placing 22nd overall, his best ever result in the Tour de France.

Thomas represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He won bronze in the individual time trial behind Alex Dowsett of England and Rohan Dennis of Australia. Thomas won gold in the road race after attacking Scott Thwaites and Jack Bauer on the final lap of the Glasgow city centre circuit, and built up a large enough gap to survive a scare when he had to change a wheel in the closing stages. Thomas rounded off his season with sixth overall at the Eneco Tour in August.

In December, Thomas was voted the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

2015

In February 2015 Thomas won the second stage of the Volta ao Algarve after following an attack by Rein Taaramäe (Astana) on the final climb of the day, before going clear and holding off the chasers on the descent to the finish, 19 seconds ahead of the Estonian and 23 seconds ahead of the peloton to take the race lead. He defended the lead by placing third in the time trial on stage 3, and fourth on stage 4, which finished on the summit of the Alto do Malhão and was won by teammate Richie Porte. He finished safely on the final stage to claim overall victory.

Thomas's next race was Paris–Nice. He took second place on the race's queen stage to the Col de la Croix de Chaubouret, again behind Porte. He lost time on the penultimate stage of the race, after crashing on a wet descent, but continued and finished fifth in the overall standings. The following week, he took part in the Milan–San Remo. He attacked on several occasions during the race, most significantly on the descent of the Cipressa. Although he led the race solo over the top of the Poggio, he was caught soon afterwards and finished just behind the front group. Five days later, Thomas became the first British rider to win the E3 Harelbeke, attacking from a 3-man breakaway with Zdeněk Štybar (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo) in the closing stages and holding on to triumph. Two days later Thomas finished third in Gent–Wevelgem behind Luca Paolini (Team Katusha) and Niki Terpstra (Etixx–Quick-Step), despite being blown off his bike and crashing due to a gust of wind in extreme weather conditions.

In June, Thomas produced one of the best climbing performances of his career at the Tour de Suisse by finishing fifth on stage 5, which finished with a climb to the Rettenbach glacier to an altitude of 2,669 m (8,757 ft) with the last 12.1 km (7.5 mi) featured an average gradient of 10.7%. Thomas placed fifth in the concluding time trial on stage 9, missing out on overall victory by a gap of five seconds to Simon Špilak (Team Katusha).

At the Tour de France Thomas played a support role for Chris Froome, helping him navigate a first week featuring crosswinds, hill top finishes, cobblestones and a team time trial. On the first mountain stage in the Pyrenees, Thomas helped set up Froome's winning attack by reducing the peloton on the final climb, the Col de la Pierre St Martin and placed sixth on the stage alongside Alejandro Valverde of the Movistar Team. This result meant Thomas rose to fifth overall on the general classification. He dropped down to sixth after finishing just over half a minute behind Alberto Contador on stage 14 from Rodez to Mende. On stage 16, Warren Barguil (Team Giant–Alpecin) lost control approaching a hairpin bend the descent of the Col de Manse and collided with Thomas, causing him to crash head first into a telegraph pole and fall into a ditch. However Thomas escaped serious injury, and was able to complete the stage and lost just 38 seconds to the leading group. He subsequently moved up to fourth overall after stage 17 to Pra-Loup, when Tejay van Garderen pulled out of the race due to illness and Contador lost time due to a crash. However he struggled on stage 19's climb up La Toussuire, finishing 22 minutes behind stage winner Vincenzo Nibali and sliding down to 15th place in the general classification, 27 minutes and 24 seconds off Froome.

In August he was named in the start list for the Vuelta a España.

2016

In February 2016, Thomas retained his Volta ao Algarve title, after placing fifth on the decisive fifth stage behind Alberto Contador.

In March 2016, Thomas led Team Sky at Paris–Nice. On stage 6, Thomas finished second to Ilnur Zakarin (Team Katusha) on a mountain top finish at Madone d'Utelle to take the race lead by 15 seconds over Contador. Thomas was able to defend his lead on the final stage, with assistance from teammate Sergio Henao, after Contador repeatedly attacked and distanced Thomas on the final climb of the Col d'Èze. Thomas crossed the finish line in Nice 11 seconds after Contador to win the race by 4 seconds.

In May 2016, it was reported that Thomas had signed a two-year contract extension keeping him at Sky until the end of 2018 season. However the following month he clarified that the contract was for one year with the option of a further year.

In July 2016 Thomas was part of the Team Sky squad at the Tour de France that aided Chris Froome in securing his third Tour de France overall win. Thomas finished 15th overall for the second year in succession.

Thomas was selected to ride the Olympic Road Race. He crashed on the final descent, around 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) from the finish of the race, when he was near the front of the race in and with a chance of contesting the finale. Thomas re-mounted, and managed to finish in 11th place two and a half minutes adrift of gold medallist Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium). Thomas also received a late entry for the Olympic time trial and finished 9th.

2017

In January 2017, Team Sky announced that Thomas would share leadership with Mikel Landa at the Giro d'Italia.

In March 2017, Thomas led Sky at Tirreno–Adriatico. However, their opening team time trial was marred by a crash suffered by Gianni Moscon, when his front wheel disintegrated at high speed. Moscon fell to the tarmac, suffering abrasions, but was able to remount. After the stage, Thomas stated to the media that two other team members suffered broken wheels during the stage; Team Sky ultimately finished 1 minute, 41 seconds down on the time of the BMC Racing Team. On stage 2, with 5.5 kilometres (3.4 miles) remaining, Thomas and Quick-Step Floors's Bob Jungels attacked on the 16% steep climb towards Pomarance, pulling Tim Wellens (Lotto–Soudal), and BMC Racing Team duo Tejay van Garderen and Damiano Caruso – in the leader's blue jersey – away with them. With Thomas pulling clear of Jungels, Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) countered to the group of pursuers; Thomas was able to stay clear until the end, winning the stage by nine seconds from Tom Dumoulin of Team Sunweb. Thomas finished second on stage 4 to Monte Terminillo, 18 seconds behind Nairo Quintana of (Movistar Team). He finished fifth overall, 58 seconds behind Quintana.

In April 2017, Thomas became the first British rider to win the Tour of the Alps (formerly known as the Giro del Trentino). Thomas won the third stage of the race, taking the leader's fuchsia jersey as a result, and ultimately won by seven seconds ahead of Thibaut Pinot (FDJ). Thomas began the Giro d'Italia strongly, finishing third on stage 4 to Mount Etna to sit second overall for the rest of the first week. However, on stage 9, as the peloton approached the final climb of the day to Blockhaus, Wilco Kelderman of Team Sunweb collided with a police motorcycle which had been parked at the side of the road. This caused him to swerve to his right into the Sky riders, who were in a line in the peloton, and resulted in Thomas and the majority of his team mates being brought down. Thomas reported his shoulder "popped out" during the crash, but he remounted to complete the stage, dropping to 17th in the standings, five minutes and 14 seconds behind Nairo Quintana. After a rest day, Thomas recovered to finish second to Tom Dumoulin on stage 10, a 39.8 km (24.7 mi) individual time trial, to move back up to 11th overall. However, after losing further time on the next two stages, Thomas withdrew from the race with a worsening knee injury.

At the Tour de France, Thomas won the opening stage, a 13.7 km (8.5 mi) individual time trial, making him the first Welsh rider to wear the yellow jersey in the event. He held the yellow jersey until Stage 5, when he dropped to second overall behind teammate Chris Froome after finishing tenth on La Planche des Belles Filles. Thomas crashed out of the race on a descent on Stage 9 whilst placed second overall and suffered a broken collarbone.