The end of this Tour de France will mark the final lap around France for many riders. Some knowingly, if they’ve chosen to retire, and for some unknowingly – they might just never get the chance to be here again.
One rider for whom it’s a choice, though, will be Geraint Thomas, and it’s hard to think of many riders in the current peloton who have had the level of impact and longevity at the Tour that the Welshman has.
First racing in 2007 for Barloworld, as a baby-faced 21-year-old, Thomas has ridden 14 Tours across his career, and fulfilled every role possible here: loyal domestique delivering teammates to victory, injured body just getting around, older statesman mentor, and of course, the yellow jersey winner. Many riders have been peloton stalwarts at the Tour across the years, very few actually won it in the middle.
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In 2025, however, Thomas will close the chapter on the Tour de France as a rider, as he’s set to retire at the end of the year, with an aptly Welsh send-off at the Tour of Britain.
Whilst his last day of racing ever is still some way off, his final Tour is drawing to a close this week, and so to reflect on one of the richest Tour careers in the peloton, Cyclingnews spoke to many of the people that know Thomas best to reflect on the last 18 years, and look ahead to what his last legacy will be.
Hear from Steve Cummings, Rod Ellingworth, Simon Yates and more in this special feature celebrating the Tour career of one of the best to ever race it.
Steve Cummings
Thomas’ former teammate at British Cycling and Sky, and his former sports director at Ineos Grenadiers
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The fairytale ending to Geraint’s time in the Tour would be if he won a stage this July. But he’s been a part of the Tour for so long and in so many different roles, he’s left a real legacy there, whatever happens now.
When you consider where he started and where he got to in his racing in the Tour, that development is like a tribute in itself: a tribute to how well he could apply himself and improve. There’s huge talent, of course, but behind that, there’s a very resilient and determined character as well.
It’s worth remembering his first role was as a lead-out man, then being a GC support rider and a time trialling specialist, and finally going all the way to the top of the overall for himself. At the same time, he’s quite relaxed with it all. He’s had his moments – we all have – but generally he handles himself pretty well.
Geraint Thomas and Steve Cummings go all the way back to Barloworld (Image credit: Getty Images)
I knew nothing of all this the first time I met him of course, [in the early 2000s – Ed], which was in an ASDA supermarket outside the Manchester velodrome, and my first impression was actually nothing to do with cycling, it was that, well – his head looked too big for his body. But everybody was talking about how good this kid was, too, and I was like ‘Ffff, we’ll see’.
After that, it quickly became clear his engine was really good and it was all about polishing the bodywork. We kind of drifted apart a bit, as you do, later on, but for a long time in the early days we were living together in Tuscany and I always tried to look out for him.
The British Academy system back then was something that really developed riders well, too, on and off the bike, and I think it paid dividends later in his career. He took those learnings off the track and onto the road, then he did Classics racing and more and more GC, so there aren’t many good races he’s not done. He’s not done a good Vuelta, maybe, but that’d be about it…
You could see his versatility even then, and I remember one year he won E3 Harelbeke and was arguably a favourite for the Tour of Flanders. But they raced it like dickheads and if that hadn’t happened, he might have won it as well.
For him to get to his Tour de France weight took an incredible amount of effort on his part, because I don’t think that’s what he’s like naturally, whereas for other GC riders it is. For him to do that repeatedly is just amazing. He’s a bit unique in that aspect
Then he’s got that resilience as well. I remember [former GB coach] Shane Sutton used to have a phrase, ‘You need time in the shoes, time in the shoes’ and Geraint epitomised that: just being on the bike, doing the hard yards, getting in the miles, time after time.
To be brutally honest, he’s got periods where he switches it on, switches it off, it’s a track rider mentality. But he’s got better and better over the years at doing that. And he’s had a lot of bad luck, too, but he’s always got back on the horse.
Over the years, I also got very fond of him. I don’t get too emotional about watching bike races, but when it came down to the final time trial of the 2018 Tour de France, I was literally hiding behind my couch because I couldn’t bear to watch. But he did it. He won.
Marko Dzalo
Thomas’ long-time soigneur at Ineos Grenadiers
I mean, first of all, he’s a rider of the team, and I work for the team. There is a line which I personally don’t cross and he doesn’t cross, but being together so long, you get more friendly, and he’s a really nice guy, a good guy, chilled, and I think that’s why we got along so well. We share a similar sense of humour, so that helps as well.
He has proper British humour (corrected him to Welsh!) like sarcastic and I’m the same, so with him sometimes I mean, now I know, but in the past, you’re like, is he serious or is he joking? But I think by now, through all his podcasts and stuff, I think also the wider public realise that most of the time he’s joking. I mean, he does all his podcasts while he’s on a massage table just to not spend an extra hour where he could relax, so he takes this advantage and I get to hear the podcast before it’s even out, so I have a prime seat.
Rod Ellingworth
Worked with Thomas from the early days at British Cycling through to Team Sky
Geraint’s an absolute all-rounder, isn’t he? OK, there’s Tadej Pogačar, but there aren’t many Grand Tour winners who ride and win Classics like E3 like he has, or what was he – eighth in Flanders? He’s been top 10 [seventh – Ed.] in Roubaix, too.
I think his first Olympic gold medal [in 2008, Team Pursuit] was a defining moment for him, it was one of his big goals to be Olympic Champion. That was a good, big moment. Fortunately, there have been loads with Geraint, that’s the thing. It’s mad. When you look at his results, it’s pretty mad, isn’t it? You know, I’ll tell you another big one, actually, which people perhaps wouldn’t think of, was when he won Tour de Suisse. He was so happy to win there, it was like he really wanted to tick that one off.
Rod Ellingworth and Geraint Thomas in their Team Sky days, pictured here in 2013 (Image credit: Getty Images)
I think that just shows G’s all-aroundness. He’s not a natural, he’s not that skilful on the bike in that sense, but he’s got some balls – that’s the thing. He can lead out Cav, who’s perhaps one of the best lead-out guys in the world. He can do the team pursuit. He’s got a fast finish. The way in which he’s done the team pursuit was phenomenal, and then he was great at team time trials and individual time trials as well. So he’s just a complete all-rounder, very much like Bradley [Wiggins] in a sense. I remember when Brad won the Tour, Geraint was like, ‘right, if he can do it, I can do it.’ So he was like, proper ballsy.
But it was all mainly about the Olympics then. I actually think if the London Olympics had been four years earlier, Geraint would have succeeded even more on the road, because between Beijing [2008] and London [2012], he held on to that track program at that point.
I first met Geraint at the National Track Championships, 2003 or 2004, he won the individual pursuit.
Then I remember when Tim Buckle was working for the Talent Team, and he said to me, ‘You need to come and see this kid’. We stood at the end of turn three of Manchester track, looking down straight, and he said, ‘This kid is so slippery through the air’. He’s got real narrow shoulders, his pedalling style, and that’s what he saw first, like, well, that he’s got something, and he didn’t look like he was going too quick, but he was moving. He just looked really slick on the bike.
It was quite clear, even then, that his mindset was unbelievably strong.
But there’s also the way in which he lives his life, he’s got a brilliant balance in life. When he wants to have fun he’ll have fun, he’s dead serious, but there’s always a light hearted side to him as well. He can laugh at himself and he can laugh at his hard moments, you know when it’s not gone so well.
So I think mentally, he’s just got a really good balance in terms of what to really stress about, what not to stress about, what he can control, what he can’t control. He’s just naturally got that in him. If you think about it, he’s had loads of knocks and I think it just shows you as well that if you’ve got the right mindset, you can do anything you want.
His honesty is a fantastic quality, too, and I think that’s why I fully respected him, and he’s been respected in the peloton as well. On his bike at times, he’s a bit crazy, and he makes some crazy moves, but people respect him because he will apologise, or he’ll say, ‘I did mess up’, and you know, he’s like that with all the staff in the race. He’s like that with everybody. But when he wants to say something, he says things, and he does it with conviction as well.
He’s never scared to ask a question, he would say, ‘hey, what happens if this what do we do in that situation?’ You’d talk about it, and then he’d make the decision on the bike, you know? I think that pinnacle of that was when he won the Tour. It wasn’t just he won the Tour, but the way in which he won the Tour, the way in which he led the team. It was a really challenging time in France because the crowds were definitely against Sky, but bloody hell – and that shows how strong he is – he could keep that all to one side.
As for now, I think Geraint is exploring, and thinking now about what he’s going to do, I think he’s in a very lovely situation that he doesn’t have to panic. He’s got the world to go at.
He’s obviously got a young family and he needs a bit of time. But it sounds to me like he’s keen to perhaps look at doing other sports, not on a big level, but do things to keep fit. And I’m pretty sure whatever Geraint does, he’ll be successful.”
Sam Watson
Thomas’ Ineos Grenadiers teammate
CN: What’s Geraint like as a colleague, or perhaps even as a friend?
Even you saying that he’s a friend is a a little bit strange, to be honest, because, yeah, I’ll be honest, he’s a massive inspiration, not just for me, but for pretty much all the British guys and yeah, I never really thought that I’d be teammates with him racing the Tour de France alongside him, it’s pretty surreal.
I guess everything he says is pretty valuable. These are guys that you can learn from just by watching what they’re doing, and he’s a great guy to be around.
Simon Yates
Thomas’ Team GB teammate
I mean, he’s had a really phenomenal career, of course, not many guys can win the Tour de France. I mean, also, not even that, but [his successes] on the track as well, it’s always an inspiration from that point of view. But he’s also a good guy, so I think that’s more important to me.
Zak Dempster
Thomas’ current DS at Ineos Grenadiers
I think the amazing thing about Geraint is his longevity in the sport. He’s got his big hits and he knows how to lock in on those. When he won the Tour in 2018 it was just like ‘bang, bang, bang’ winning Algarve, and these last few years he’s been really about those key moments and stages.
I think the team has to be really grateful for him, because without those podiums that he’s done in Grand Tours and him not being afraid to stand up and put the team on his back and deliver, I think that’s kept the team relevant in GC racing. But I think now it’s time for the next generation of guys to come through and his hand in that is going to be really important.
If you think about Brad winning the Tour or Froomey, these guys are no longer with the team, but Geraint has stuck around. The thing with this team is that everyone that comes in, they contribute in some way to making it better, and Geraint has been one of the biggest contributors to the success of this team and how the culture is. So his legacy will be continue to be felt in the team in the future.
From the Wiggins project to supporting Rodriguez in 2025, Thomas has been a true fixture in Sky and Ineos Grenadiers (Image credit: Getty Images)Mike Woods
A long-time peloton peer of Thomas
Within the Canadian cycling community and just amongst the cycling world in general, Geraint is a huge name. But also for me, he’s a rider that someone I look up to, although he’s the same age as me.
I started a lot later than him but he’s someone I always respected as a rider, not just how he races, but the way he carries himself. I still remember that interview he gave after winning the Tour de France, and his just being awestruck and stunned by the fact he’d won it. It wasn’t this figure who almost took for granted, he seems like a guy who was cherishing that moment.
I’m a fan of his podcast, too, it’s always great getting insight from him and I listen to it often when driving from Andorra to Barcelona airport. In terms of racing him, a good anecdote that shows what he’s like would be the year after he won the Tour de France. It was my first Tour and I was sitting high up on classification, it was a good stage for me, maybe stage 8.
Anyway, EF was riding for me so we were in sitting front of Ineos – Sky at the time – and I crashed on a corner, I took him out, he was right behind me. It was my fault, I took the corner poorly,. So there was I crashing the guy wearing the number one on his back.
I felt so awful. I apologized to him afterwards but he was super cool about it, he said – you know, stuff happens, it’s part of the sport So he didn’t carry a grudge. And I think it’s just indicative of the kind of person he is.
Geraint Thomas
The man himself, on what he would like his legacy to be:
I got asked this the other day actually. Someone who was always hardworking, always gave everything for the team and myself, and just loyal.
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