{"id":120977,"date":"2025-09-07T15:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T15:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/120977\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T15:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T15:04:10","slug":"geraint-thomas-farewell-brings-thousands-out-in-cardiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/120977\/","title":{"rendered":"Geraint Thomas farewell brings thousands out in Cardiff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris WoodBBC News and<\/p>\n

Jordan DaviesBBC News, Maindy Stadium<\/p>\n

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

Fellow cyclists and fans pay tribute to Geraint Thomas before the start of the final stage on Sunday<\/p>\n

Former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas is waving an emotional goodbye to cycling, with his final ride in his home city. <\/p>\n

The former Whitchurch High School pupil won the iconic French race in 2018<\/a>, along with Olympic gold in Beijing, China, in 2008 and London in 2012. <\/p>\n

But he is on more familiar terrain on Sunday, taking part in his final race – the Tour of Britain, which ends in Cardiff later.<\/p>\n

The final 122.2km (76 miles) stage started at the velodrome in Newport named after the 39-year-old and where crowds turned out to cheer him. It also passes his childhood cycling club, Maindy Flyers, before ending in his hometown.<\/p>\n

“A a whole club we’re extremely proud, we’ve been fortunate that we’ve had a number of youngsters who have come through this club and who’ve gone on to achieve Olympic golds, world records world championships,” said co-chairman of Maindy Flyers Alan Davies.<\/p>\n

“But Geraint was the first, he was the one who showed the others the way.<\/p>\n

“This is Geraint’s legacy within cycling in Cardiff.”<\/p>\n

Mr Davies said it was almost 30 years to the day that Thomas first began cycling at Maindy, joining in late 1995.<\/p>\n

He was his first coach, and in testament to the effect he has had on the sport in the city, many young riders are present to pay tribute to him. <\/p>\n

Thomas signed autographs before starting the final race <\/p>\n

Cycling fans salute Thomas with flags and face masks<\/p>\n

“He’s inspired so many children to join Maindy, it’s just great what he’s done,” said 10-year-old Gwen. <\/p>\n

“It’s his last year and he’s done really well.”<\/p>\n

\"Imogen<\/p>\n

Young cyclists Imogen and Raima say they have been inspired by Thomas<\/p>\n

Imogen, 12, said it gives her “a nice feeling” to know he started his career at the club. <\/p>\n

“And then he went on to be an Olympian, Tour de France winner, and then is finishing his last race here,” she added.<\/p>\n

Raima used to go on bike rides with her dad, and “really liked beating him”, with the success of Geraint Thomas allowing her to dream.<\/p>\n

“It gives you a sense of hope and brings everyone together – it makes you want to do better,” she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris WoodBBC News and Jordan DaviesBBC News, Maindy Stadium PA Media Fellow cyclists and fans pay tribute to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-120977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}