Geraint Thomas: A career in pictures
Thomas began his full-time participation with the Barloworld team, alongside another of Sky's future stars, Chris Froome. It was with Barloworld where Thomas contested his first Tour de France - road cycling's biggest and toughest race. He finished 140th in the general classification. You've got to start (and finish) somewhere...
It all began - as it does for so many heroes of the road - on the track. Thomas was part of one of the first intakes of British Cycling's Academy programme in 2004. He and others, including Mark Cavendish, benefited from improved training methods in Manchester's Velodrome as well as the camaraderie of shared accommodation near the city centre. At the 2007 Track World Championships, Thomas was part of the team pursuit squad who won gold.
Worlds gold turned into Olympic gold in 2008, as Team GB swept all before them in Beijing. Thomas won the first of his two Olympic golds in the team pursuit - the other being in London four years later - alongside Paul Manning, Ed Clancy and, of course, Bradley Wiggins, whose story would soon converge with Thomas' as he dreamed of hitting the Tarmac.
Thomas would not return to his beloved Tour de France until 2010. But he remained focused on his preferred discipline on the road: time trialling. On his day, Thomas was the best in the world in the race against the clock. His greatest TT result came on stage one of the 2017 Tour when he won to put himself in the coveted yellow jersey.
Thomas, along with Britain's best talent, was signed up to a new project born from British Cycling's success on the track - Team Sky. The team brought the most money and the most scientific approach the sport had ever seen, along with a number of new names who were set to change, and frustrate, a largely French and Belgian peloton reeling from the latest doping scandal to hit the sport.
Sky professed a newly clean approach to cycling, a sport which had not managed to escape the shadow of doping by 2010. Sir Dave Brailsford led a team which adopted the 'marginal gains' approach, in which team doctors and coaches extracted time savings from every single area of performance and preparation. The peloton had seen nothing like it.
The peloton had also never seen such racing discipline, with the team's famous 'Sky Train' locking out most rivals as strong domestiques, including Thomas, used every last bit of energy during their turn at the front to help protect the team leader from the wind. It's also where Thomas became known for his trademark white-rimmed sunglasses, marking him out from other riders.
Thomas had his fair share of crashes across his career, as most cyclists do. But many felt the 38-year-old was unluckier than most. He once came to grief during the 2020 Giro d'Italia after a discarded water bottle from another rider bounced off a wall, as the peloton passed through an ancient village on Sicily, and became wedged underneath Thomas' front wheel causing him to sustain a broken pelvis in the ensuing crash.
But in 2018 it all came good for the former domestique from Cardiff. On his ninth Tour de France, after assisting Chris Froome to his four Tour wins (in 2013 and 2015-17), he finally out-performed his British team-mate to take the yellow jersey after winning stage 11.
Thomas remained in yellow all the way to Paris, much to the surprise of many in the sport. His win on stage 12's iconic, winding ascent to Alpe d'Huez cemented his new status as a top rider. A realisation he shared with his wife Sa in the French capital.
Wales will always be close to Thomas' heart. He has won four medals at three Commonwealth Games, and fronts the Watts Occurring podcast with fellow Welshman and former Ineos team-mate Luke Rowe.
As Team Sky morphed into Ineos Grenadiers, Thomas' performances remained strong. He came within a whisker of victory at the Giro d'Italia in 2023, losing out to Slovenia's Primoz Roglic by seconds on a final-stage mountain time trial. He also won the Tour de Romandie in 2021 and Tour de Suisse in 2022.
He would finish on the podium in Paris twice more (in 2019 and 2022). But it's thanks to his victory in 2018 that Thomas will always be affiliated with the romance of the Tour; a rider perfectly reflecting the French underdog spirit, who found another level in the mountains.
All photographs licensed by Getty Images and subject to copyright.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Tour de France: Pogacar demolishes rivals with devastating stage 12 win in Pyrenees
Tadej Pogacar dominated Jonas Vingegaard on the slopes of Hautacam to take a commanding lead in the Tour de France. After the first summit finish of 2025, the defending champion's next overall victory now appears an inevitability. Pogacar beat his rival to the ski station finish by well over two minutes and now leads the Tour by more than three and half minutes, with nine stages remaining. Pas de suspense, the French would say, and after the Slovenian's eighth career stage win in the Pyrenees, Vingegaard is scrambling to sustain a meaningful challenge. If Pogacar had been scared when crashing in Toulouse, 24 hours earlier, he showed no ill effects as he dealt a lethal blow to Vingegaard's aspirations under a fierce Pyrenean sun. 'I feel at the best moment of my career,' he said. 'I'm riding in the rainbow jersey, I ride with an amazing team, so it's like a fairytale for me. I think once this fire goes out, I will probably decline in performance but I'd say that now is the peak of my career, and I'll try to hold it for as long as I can.' He did admit to being anxious prior to the stage however. 'I was nervous at the start, a little bit cranky maybe,' Pogacar said. 'There was the role of 2022, when I lost the Tour here [at Hautacam]. I lost it that day and I guess I was really motivated.' Burned by Pogacar, Vingegaard is looking over his shoulder at those hot on his heels, including the Scottish climber Oscar Onley, who was fifth at Hautacam and is sustaining his challenge in sixth overall. The Dane has lost time to his Slovenian rival in the long time trial and in the Tour's first summit finish. From here, it appears unlikely that he will be able to mount a challenge for the yellow jersey. There was more than a little questioning of his Visma-Lease a Bike team's tactics, after Vingegaard arrived at the foot of the final climb alone and surrounded by UAE Emirates riders. Long gone was Matteo Jorgenson, who had started the stage fifth overall but fell back on the Col du Soulor. Nor was there any sign of Simon Yates, winner on Puy de Sancy, but now unable to help his leader. Pogacar's decisive move came at the foot of the 13km ascent after he was set up by his Ecuadorian teammate Jhonatan Narváez. Initially, Vingegaard kept the defending champion in sight, the gap hovering at a handful of seconds, but as the pursuit wore on, Pogacar cruised clear. Emmanuel Macron briefly joined Christian Prudhomme in the race director's car and the French president was treated to a ringside seat as Pogacar powered up the slopes. Further down the mountain, Ben Healy was toiling up the climb, eventually losing the best part of 14 minutes to the Slovenian. In furnace conditions, Healy's overall leadership had wilted on the exposed climb of the Col du Soulor, where Remco Evenepoel also suffered and lost ground. The morning after Pogacar's crash on the approach to Toulouse, the polemics over the peloton's decision to wait for the Slovenian continued. In the end, however, it was an irrelevance. The show of sportsmanship from Healy and Vingegaard was not lost on Demi Vollering, whose crash while leading the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, after which the peloton did not look back, effectively cost her the race. 'So kind of the bunch not to use this crash of Tadej Pogacar to take time on him,' she posted on Instagram. 'Guess men are a bit more kind.' It also was a mournful convoy that entered the Pyrenees, the morning after a promising talent had been lost to a high-speed crash, following the death of young Italian Samuele Privitera, who was killed on Wednesday while racing in the Giro delle Valle d'Aosta. According to reports in the Italian media, the 19-year-old crashed as the peloton was riding downhill at 70kph. He is understood to have fallen and hit the iron gate of a house, losing his helmet during the impact and suffering a cardiac arrest. Thursday's second stage of the Giro delle Valle d'Aosta was cancelled. The Italian was riding for the Hagens Berman Jayco development team, a feeder outfit for Jayco AlUla, currently riding in the Tour. In tribute, there was a minute's applause at the start of stage 12 in Auch. Axel Merckx, son of Eddy and manager of the Hagens Berman team, said that the rider's loss was 'devastating beyond words.' Friday's stage 13 time trial, from Loudenvielle to Peyragudes is unlikely to change the current narrative, although Evenepoel will be keen to bounce back and exploit any further weakness on the part of Vingegaard. Pogacar however, is expected to increase his overall lead.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Tour de France stage 13 preview: Route map, profile and start time on brutal Pyrenees time trial
Stage 12 of the Tour de France really set the race alight as defending champion Tadej Pogacar stamped on the pedals on the lower slopes of the infamous Hautacam climb and simply took flight. The Slovenian went solo with 12km to go, teed up superbly by teammate Jhonatan Narvaez, and while initially Jonas Vingegaard was the only rider who could stick with him, the Dane was quickly distanced and began rapidly shedding time. By the summit finish at Hautacam - the toughest climb of the race so far - Pogacar had once again emphasised his superiority and his rivals were left licking their wounds and taking stock of their losses. Vingegaard finished 2'10' down, falling to 3'31' behind Pogacar in the overall standings, while Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic also suffered on the brutal slopes and in the punishing heat. Florian Lipowitz demonstrated his pedigree as a climber, finishing just 13 second behind Vingegaard in third, as he, Oscar Onley and Kevin Vauquelin all made gains on Evenepoel in the best young rider classification. But the story of the day was of course Pogacar earning his revenge on the Hautacam, the climb where he was put to the sword as Vingegaard stormed to his first Tour title in 2022. 'I almost already forgot (about the Hautacam stage in 2022) and was just looking forward to today, then all the people came to me saying all the time about this, 'Is this revenge time?' Then when we approached the bottom of the climb it was the reverse story of a few years ago,' he said. Pogacar took to the start line with bandaging along his left arm after a crash late on stage 11, but did not appear remotely impeded by it - although there is every possibility he may suffer the continued aftereffects on stage 13, combined with his incredible efforts on stage 12. 'For sure you don't know how the body reacts after a crash, but it was not too bad a crash,' he said. 'I feel my hip only if I do acrobatics, but here riding the bike it's not big flexing.' Pogacar dedicated his stage win to Samuele Privitera, the 19-year-old Italian development rider who died after a crash at the Giro della Valle d'Aosta on Wednesday. 'This stage can go for Samuele, to all his family,' he said. 'It was really sad, it was the first thing I read in the morning, and I was thinking in the last kilometre about him and how tough this sport can be, and how much pain it can cause.' While stage 12 was a long and brutal day in the saddle, stage 13 is the shortest stage of this year's race, a 10.9km time trial from Loudenvielle to Peyragudes. The race stays in the Pyrenees for yet more climbing, as while the stage is short, it may prove even tougher than yesterday's effort. After a rolling first three kilometres the road suddenly and sharply kicks uphill, with the 8km climb to the finish line at the altiport in Peyragudes averaging 7.9% and kicking up to 16% on its toughest upper slopes. The final kilometre ramps up to the line at an average of 13%, making this a beast of a day that only gets more intense the further it goes on. Route map and profile Start time The first rider down the ramp on stage 13 will set off at 1.10pm local time (12.10pm BST) and the stage is expected to finish at 5.30pm local time (4.30pm BST). Prediction Could Tadej Pogacar do the double? The Slovenian has already won three stages of this year's Tour, up to 20 career stages (watch out, Mark Cavendish) and looks in supreme form, even with that crash on stage 11. There's every possibility that it may hamper him more today than it did yesterday, but he still looks a cut above Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, who would otherwise be among the favourites for today. Evenepoel is of course the world and Olympic time-trial champion but the Belgian prefers a flatter, more specialist-friendly course and any aero benefits from his position on the bike will be rendered null by the climbing on the menu today. Vingegaard has serious time to make up on his rival but has had two bad days at this year's Tour, one in the previous time trial and one yesterday, so combining the Pyrenean climbs with a race against the clock doesn't seem likely to suit the Dane today. None of the peloton's other time-trial specialists, like Edoardo Affini, can climb as well as Pogacar; French national TT champion Bruno Armirail had a phenomenal day out yesterday but is not a pure climber and may well pay for those efforts. For all of those reasons, we are once again going with Tadej Pogacar.
Times
3 hours ago
- Times
I'm at my peak, says Tadej Pogacar after regaining Yellow Jersey
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