Geraint Thomas at the 2020 Tirreno-Adriatico (Photo: Yuzuru SUNADA)
Geraint Thomas has become one of the most established British Grand Tour riders in recent season.
After building up an impressive palmarès during his enduring career with Team Sky, now Ineos, Thomas won the 2018 Tour de France, having won stages 11 and the Queen stage 12. He raced the 2019 edition as co-leader with Egan Bernal, with Bernal taking the honours while Thomas backed up his win with a second-place finish.
Since then, Thomas has had to find his place with the changing Ineos Grenadiers team as he was left out of the 2020 Tour de France team, with Bernal once again leading the charge.
But after Bernal fell out of GC contention and eventually abandoned the race, fans began to question whether Thomas should have been taken to the Tour as a back-up leader.
Thomas was impressive in Tirreno-Adriatico away from the Tour, finishing second overall and fourth in the final stage time trial behind some of the best TT riders in the world.
He then backed up that performance with a fourth-place finish in the 2020 World Championship TT, which was a promising sign as he prepared for his leadership at the 2020 Giro d'Italia.
Ineos looked motivated to deliver a Grand Tour victory in Italy after the disappointment of the Tour, with Thomas supported by the likes of Rohan Dennis and Tao Geoghegan Hart.
Geraint Thomas in the 2018 Tour de France
Thomas showed excellent form in the lead up to the 2018 Tour de France - where he initially supported Chris Froome, with the opportunity to lead for himself should events go well for the Welshman, which of course they did.
2019 had a troubled beginning. A crash at the Tour de Suisse and worries over his form meant he entered the TdF with question marks above his head. However, he was clearly the same rider of the previous edition and was the match of his competitors, eventually finishing second to team mate Bernal. Thomas took a step back from racing and refocused on the worlds. However, with only four days to the event, he pulled out and stated a draining year had left him fatigued.
Thomas is also a double Olympic champion as part of Great Britain’s winning team pursuit quartet in both Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
It was in 2015 that Thomas showed potential as a stage racer, taking 15th place in the Tour de France. In 2016, he entered the race with hopes to better that result - but secured an identical position after racing through a rib fracture sustained during a crash in the first stage.
Watch: Geraint Thomas - Where it all began
The Welshman picked up cycling with the Maindy Flyers in Wales; taking the club’s newcomers’ track record was an inspiration to continue, which he did racing across the country with the club. After winning two national titles as a teenager, Thomas progressed rapidly going on to silver in the points race at the European track championships.
Thomas joined the British Cycling Olympic Academy in 2005, after impressing many with his 2004 Junior Paris-Roubaix win riding for the South East centre of excellence. He turned professional on the road with the Barloworld team in 2007, where he rode and finished his first Tour de France.
At Team Sky, Thomas has shown himself as a man of many talents, excelling at cobbled Classics, short stage races and as a super domestique in Grand Tours.
But his stage racing form throughout 2015, particularly a 15th place finish at the Tour de France, has prompted Thomas to focus his efforts on the multi-day races in 2016, with even the possibility to lead the British team in a Grand Tour.
Though Thomas' intention for the Tour de France were to better his 15th place of 2015, he actually finished in exactly the same position on GC after crashing in the first stage and fracturing a rib - which of course affected his form going forwards.
A late call up to represent Great Britain in the Rio Olympic time trial could have been a positive development - but a crash on a technical hairpin bend in the road race took away his chance to contest the win. Despite injuries and no specific time trial preparation, Thomas did manage to take nine in the TT a few days later, showing resilience and talent.
At the UCI Road World Championships, Thomas was down to support Cavendish in his quest for the win. However, a puncture at the wrong time took him out the race whilst Cavendish came in for second behind Peter Sagan.
Team Sky placed a clear focus on the GC as opposed to stage wins this year, as made apparent by their choice to leave sprinter Elia Viviani out if the squad.
The early stages showed promise, with Thomas sitting in second place on the General Classification for several consecutive stages. However, a crash on stage nine saw him and Landa lose minutes, though Thomas did make up some time in the stage ten time trial, taking second place. However, he was eventually forced to abandon due to injuries sustained in the crash.
After being selected to support Chris Froome at the Tour de France the following July, Thomas duly won the opening time trial in a rain-swept Düsseldorf to take the race lead – his first Grand Tour stage win and first time in the yellow jersey.
He maintained the race lead until stage five, when an attack from Italian rider Fabio Aru split a group of GC contenders. Froome moved into the yellow jersey, with Thomas sitting just 12 seconds behind - a position he maintained until a crash forced him out of the race on stage nine.
Thomas was significantly more successful at the 2018 Tour de France, where he won stages 11 and the Queen stage 12, moving into the yellow jersey and maintaining the position until the end of the race.
