Around 8,000 fans gathered in Cardiff for Geraint Thomas<\/a>\u2019s homecoming after winning the 2018 Tour de France<\/a>, a race which he readily admits \u201cchanged my life\u201d. \u201cI thought it was just going to be the wife and the dog,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n Plenty more than the wife and the dog braved a classically damp and grey Welsh afternoon to cheer their rider home seven years later on the final day of his professional career.<\/p>\n The Welsh flags were flying along North Road as Thomas rolled over the line some four minutes after stage winner Olav Kooij, waving to the generations of fans gathered at the roadside, parents pointing out his iconic white shades to children waving Tour of Britain<\/a> flags. The 39-year-old gathered with his teammates for hugs and photos, to a soundtrack of shouts of \u201cWe love you G!\u201d. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Geraint Thomas is hugged by his wife Sara and their son Macs (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n It felt like all of Cardiff had come out to welcome home a mate. Thomas admitted it was an emotional day for him, joking, \u201cI wish I had tinted glasses!\u201d Even teammate Thymen Arensman, who the Welshman had worked tirelessly for throughout this race, looked to wipe away a tear. <\/p>\n The peloton gave him the traditional guard of honour at the start in Newport, with young son Macs there with his own bike to take part. Thomas gave the other riders a thumbs up as if to say, that\u2019s enough now, a fraction embarrassed by the attention, before turning to the cheering crowds with a wave. His task for the final stage was to \u201cjust do my bit, get the boys up front, pat them on the back and away they go\u201d, he said beforehand, still content to ride as a teammate on a day that most people had made all about him. <\/p>\n As an actual race, this year\u2019s Tour of Britain<\/a> has been somewhat overshadowed by being the Geraint Thomas<\/a> retirement party. Not that you\u2019d imagine overall winner Romain Gregoire or three-time stage winner Kooij mind that much, as most of the peloton donned vaguely creepy face masks of the Welshman to celebrate his final day out. Thomas admitted before the start: \u201cI’ve kind of forgotten that I have to do a bike race, because, you know, it\u2019s almost like a celebration. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen you’re a kid, you always have a dream of this, being part of the big things, like going to the Olympics and grand tours. But the career and the longevity I definitely didn’t expect. It\u2019s the stuff of dreams, it\u2019s kind of strange. <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re always thinking of the next race, you\u2019re always working towards something. But it\u2019s the right time, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n It was an emotional end to his professional career (Ben Birchall\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n Even after 19 years of this, he still seemed in disbelief at the hordes of fans gathered to cheer him on, happily conceding he was \u201cchoking up riding my bike, which was weird. To finish here was like full circle, riding past Maindy [Velodrome, home of his childhood cycling club] where it all started, there\u2019s no better way. The amount of people going nuts, it\u2019s just mad that people care that much about seeing me do well, it meant so much. What a way to finish.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially starting in the velodrome named after me, which is bonkers, really. [Fellow Welsh rider] Nicole Cooke inspired me, and the thought of younger kids now looking at me and thinking that, is strange but really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of those kids who Thomas has inspired rode alongside him this week, from 20-year-old Ben Wiggins \u2013 son, of course, of Thomas\u2019s former teammate, Bradley \u2013 to 22-year-old Scot Oscar Onley. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Thomas (third left) poses with his teammates after the sixth stage (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Onley, the star of this year\u2019s Tour de France<\/a> as he finished fourth, told The Independent at the finish: \u201cI\u2019ve spoken to him quite a bit over the last few years since I turned pro. He\u2019s really a role model for all younger British riders. When I was growing up he was winning the Tour, winning a lot of races, he\u2019s someone I\u2019ve really looked up to for quite a few years and I have big respect for what he does. I\u2019m not the same rider, but if I could get half the palmares he had I\u2019d be happy at the end of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n A fan holds up a sign in Cardiff (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Thomas\u2019s legacy is palpable, from the scores of riders from other teams \u2013 many of whom he never raced with \u2013 messaging to wish him well, to the youngsters alongside him on the start line. He said before the stage: \u201cIt is the end of that sort of generation, but it\u2019s definitely not the end. British cycling is still super strong with Cat Ferguson and Matty Brennan<\/a>, who\u2019s here, and Oscar, and Sam Watson, and [Josh] Tarling, and all these guys. But yeah, it’s definitely the end [of an era], Cav going last year. Time to move on, innit?\u201d<\/p>\n Time to move on indeed, and Thomas has the luxury accorded to few sportspeople of doing it on his own terms. An unforgettable ride down home roads, celebrating with family and friends, free beers in Cardiff Castle. It\u2019s the least this affable, understated Welshman \u2013 one of Britain\u2019s greatest-ever cyclists \u2013 deserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-121541","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\/121541","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=121541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Geraint](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/INEOS-Grenadiers-teams-Welsh-rider-Geraint-Thomas-is-hugged-by-his-wife-Sara-and-their-son-Macs.jpeg\")
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