Alpe d’Huez’s infamous Dutch Corner, the Trouée d’Arenberg at Paris-Roubaix, the Champs-Elysees… and North Road, Cardiff. Maybe not the most glamorous location in cycling, but the Welsh capital felt like its heartland today, as thousands of people thronged the streets to celebrate the career of one of its most glittering sportsmen.
Around 8,000 fans gathered in Cardiff for Geraint Thomas’s homecoming after winning the 2018 Tour de France, a race which he readily admits “changed my life”. “I thought it was just going to be the wife and the dog,” he said at the time.
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.
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 flags. The 39-year-old gathered with his teammates for hugs and photos, to a soundtrack of shouts of “We love you G!”.
It felt like all of Cardiff had come out to welcome home a mate. Thomas admitted it was an emotional day for him, joking, “I wish I had tinted glasses!” Even teammate Thymen Arensman, who the Welshman had worked tirelessly for throughout this race, looked to wipe away a tear.
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’s 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 “just do my bit, get the boys up front, pat them on the back and away they go”, he said beforehand, still content to ride as a teammate on a day that most people had made all about him.
As an actual race, this year’s Tour of Britain has been somewhat overshadowed by being the Geraint Thomas retirement party. Not that you’d 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: “I’ve kind of forgotten that I have to do a bike race, because, you know, it’s almost like a celebration.
“When 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’s the stuff of dreams, it’s kind of strange.
“You’re always thinking of the next race, you’re always working towards something. But it’s the right time, for sure.”
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 “choking 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’s no better way. The amount of people going nuts, it’s just mad that people care that much about seeing me do well, it meant so much. What a way to finish.
“Especially 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.”
Many of those kids who Thomas has inspired rode alongside him this week, from 20-year-old Ben Wiggins – son, of course, of Thomas’s former teammate, Bradley – to 22-year-old Scot Oscar Onley.
-poses-for-a-picture-with-his-teammates-after.jpeg)
Onley, the star of this year’s Tour de France as he finished fourth, told The Independent at the finish: “I’ve spoken to him quite a bit over the last few years since I turned pro. He’s 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’s someone I’ve really looked up to for quite a few years and I have big respect for what he does. I’m not the same rider, but if I could get half the palmares he had I’d be happy at the end of my career.”
Thomas’s legacy is palpable, from the scores of riders from other teams – many of whom he never raced with – messaging to wish him well, to the youngsters alongside him on the start line. He said before the stage: “It is the end of that sort of generation, but it’s definitely not the end. British cycling is still super strong with Cat Ferguson and Matty Brennan, who’s 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?”
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’s the least this affable, understated Welshman – one of Britain’s greatest-ever cyclists – deserves.
