{"id":123796,"date":"2025-09-08T22:40:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T22:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/123796\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T22:40:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T22:40:06","slug":"hes-a-celebrity-i-suppose-geraint-thomas-in-the-words-of-his-fans-as-he-retired-in-cardiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/123796\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He\u2019s a celebrity, I suppose!\u2019 \u2013 Geraint Thomas, in the words of his fans, as he retired in Cardiff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIn Newport today, there is a 97% chance of rain, tapering off towards mid-afternoon\u201d ran the weather report for Sunday\u2019s final stage of the Tour of Britain<\/a> from Newport to Cardiff. But the crowds were not put off, sheltering under the shallow overhang of the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales<\/a> as they waited for a seat to watch the Welshman sign onto his last professional race. In the press room, fans craned their heads through the misty window, \u201cthat\u2019s Geraint Thomas!\u201d drifting through the cracked pane, before he took his final loop around the velodrome to the soundtrack of \u2018The Vengabus\u2019.<\/p>\n

The hubbub continued at the finish line, as crowds of fans donned masks of Thomas\u2019 face, or draped themselves in the Welsh flag, red dragon roaring. \u201cThis is not a normal crowd for the Tour of Britain,\u201d I was told at intervals throughout the day.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To put what I saw on the streets of Cardiff plainly: people love Geraint Thomas<\/a>. One man had come with his toddlers in tow, pushing along a double-buggy flanked by a 7 year-old in a Geraint Thomas mask. He\u2019d met Thomas in London and wanted his kids to get one final glimpse of the cycling superstar. \u201cTo come from Maindy as a young lad and then win the Tour de France<\/a> as well is incredible,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n

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Thomas, claimed by the whole of Britain for his cycling prowess, is acutely celebrated here, in the corner of Wales he grew up in. The final stage of the Tour of Britain<\/a> was designed to see off rider, beginning after the velodrome named after him, past his parent\u2019s house and the pub he had his first pint in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can remember him from way back when he used to ride all the valley roads, the Bwlch and all the rest of it,\u201d another fan, Mark, tells me during the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s someone who really deserves where he is, and all that he\u2019s achieved. He\u2019s a good bloke, and a real hard worker. He\u2019s an inspiration, especially for all the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to say how many people have picked up bikes because of him. The Team Sky buzz alone must have ensnared a generation of young riders, and cemented a familiarity with road racing in British culture more generally.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI started cycling about eight years ago, and it was probably because of him that I started, and I\u2019ve loved it ever since,\u201d Deian says in front of the race\u2019s live-stream. He\u2019s in his late forties, and has come out with his band of pals to see off his hero in Cardiff. As soon as I ask about Thomas, his friends walk off, groaning, \u201csee you in twenty years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deian\u2019s off, unperturbed: “When he won the Tour de France in 2018, and he came back to Cardiff, he lived sort of down the road and I\u2019d see him every now and then. There was one night in particular when I was walking past a restaurant in Pontcanna in Cardiff, and he was sitting there with Luke Rowe <\/a>and I paid for their meal without them knowing, and they ran out afterwards,[…] and I had a photo with them. So yeah, it\u2019s a massive day for him, and for all the people here.\u201d<\/p>\n

I ask Deinan what it is about Geraint that has made him such an inspiration. \u201c[It\u2019s] just the true grit that he\u2019s shown. I\u2019ve read a lot about him, the fact that he trains harder than anyone else, pushes himself harder than anybody else, and the fact that he cycled with a broken pelvis, and just his determination\u2026I think it\u2019s a lesson to us all. If you think you\u2019re down on your luck, just keep on going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The accolades continue to flood in. \u201cHe\u2019s such a likeable person. He just comes across so ordinary,\u201d Gwenda said, looking into the middle-distance, smiling. \u201cAll the way through his career, [he\u2019s been the] same person, ever since I saw him in the Beijing Olympics<\/a>, just the same Geraint [laughing].\u201d<\/p>\n

For others I talk to, the Geraint-effect is only just beginning. Katie started following pro cycling after watching the Tour de France with her dad over the summer. \u201cOnce he\u2019d explained all the tactics and how it all worked, it got really exciting and interesting […] I only heard about [Thomas] during the Tour de France because everyone was talking about this happening and the end of his career and stuff. He\u2019s everywhere!\u201d<\/p>\n

What Thomas’ fans have given him, he has given back. With record crowds drawn to Cardiff last weekend, the Tour of Britain will have also drawn in very real monetary gains for the city, too. Last year, the final stage in Northamptonshire drew in \u00a33.6 million in attendee spending<\/a>. With a double-whammy of sporting events in Cardiff on Sunday, after the 10k run just hours before the riders raced under the Lloyd’s Tour of Britain arc, it’s hoped that Thomas’ farewell race will secure the future of the Tour (and will have inspired a cohort of new fans) for a few years to come. But, to bring it back to the man of the hour…<\/p>\n

“Oh he’s a legend isn’t he,” Paul gushed before the start of the race, as he looked ahead to Thomas’ final performance. “An absolute legend.”<\/p>\n

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Geraint Thomas<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIn Newport today, there is a 97% chance of rain, tapering off towards mid-afternoon\u201d ran the weather report…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-123796","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\/123796","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=123796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}