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Legendinmybathroom View Drop Down
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Points: 4478 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Legendinmybathroom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Geraint Thomas
    Posted: 28 July 2025 at 9:32am
I just feel that this icon of Wales deserves a thread of his own.  Yesterday he completed his 19th Tour de France at the age 39.  There can not be many men in the history of the Tour to have completed so many, if it is a record it’s very unlikely to ever be achieved again (especially in the modern era where riders are discarded by their teams when performances drop.
The man is the only Welsh rider to win the tour and is only the third British rider to do so too.
He’s one of only a handful of riders ever to perform at the highest level on both the road and the track, he’s competed and won golds at two Olympic Games (2008 & 2012), the commonwealth games at much shorter forms of cycling, team pursuit (winning 3 world championships (2007, 2008 and 2012) and time trialling.
He has stood on the podium at 5 grand tours.
He was super domestique to Chris Froome during his domination of the Tour de France in the mid 2010s, meaning that he had to sacrifice his own chances to set up Froome.
He is also one of the funniest people on the cycling circuit a remember his mic drop moment on the podium in the 2018 TDF, always self deprecating and great for a great quote and outright honesty.
On finishing yesterday he hinted that alongside a management role within Team Ineos he is considering starting to compete in Iron Man events moving forward - something you wouldn’t bet against him being really successful at.
We are so good in Wales at building up our Rugby and Football stars but I believe that he is one of the greatest sports stars that we have ever produced.
He will have his swan song on the streets of rat wales and Cardiff in early September during the tour of Britain and I hope he gets the send off that he deserves.
Diolch Geraint and good l
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Eastern outpost View Drop Down
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Points: 25444 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Eastern outpost Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 July 2025 at 10:42am
Well said, Legend!

His 19 Tours is a record and you’re right, highly unlikely to be beaten. G is probably the only British outright race Yellow Jersey winner not to have questions about him, too.

An absolute icon and model pro. Deserved of a statue.


Edited by Eastern outpost - 28 July 2025 at 10:42am
In a world where you can be anything – Be Kind.
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Points: 20259 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote aber-fan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 July 2025 at 2:09pm
As a huge cycling fan since the early 1980s when I lived in France, I echo these sentiments. Geraint Thomas is a Welsh hero, and an unassuming and humorous one at that. A lovely bloke as well as a great champion.

I do think, though, that it's important to be as accurate as possible: G completed 14 tours (not 19) by his own account:

Although he was not victorious this year, Thomas was still in demand, given his 18-year association with this grand old event.

He was the youngest rider at the Tour de France in 2007, the champion 11 years later, and now the oldest participant in cycling's greatest race - the only man in the Tour's long and storied history to have been all three.

"It's been amazing," Thomas told BBC Sport Wales. "Looking back, I never thought I'd be doing 14 Tours and to win it was just bonkers. I can look back with fond memories.

"It was something I always dreamed of doing so to have just done it and be in Paris once is special you know. To do 14 is unreal really, one hell of a journey."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/articles/c9dgd4819z1o

I'm not sure what happened in the gap years - injured or not selected, presumably. I don't remember. 

... A bit of further research shows that G participated 14 times and finished on 12 occasions. Mark Cavendish started 15 tours but only finished 8 (sprinters are more prone to dropping out). The record holders are Sylvain Chavanel (18 starts, 16 finishes) and for finishes only, Joop Zoetemelk also has 16 in 16 starts. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France_records_and_statistics

(I remember watching all of those racing...)



Edited by aber-fan - 28 July 2025 at 2:10pm
“You cannot reason a man out of what he never reasoned himself into.” (Jonathan Swift)
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Legendinmybathroom View Drop Down
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Points: 4478 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Legendinmybathroom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 July 2025 at 2:56pm
You are right, he’s probably the only winner (British or otherwise) that has not been suspected of cheating in some way or form. 
That says something in a sport that will be forever tainted by the Lance Armstrong case. 
You are also correct in assuming that he is deserving of some kind of statue erected in his honour.
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Points: 25444 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Eastern outpost Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 July 2025 at 3:06pm
Originally posted by Legendinmybathroom Legendinmybathroom wrote:

You are right, he’s probably the only winner (British or otherwise) that has not been suspected of cheating in some way or form. 
That says something in a sport that will be forever tainted by the Lance Armstrong case. 
You are also correct in assuming that he is deserving of some kind of statue erected in his honour.
Hopefully one that is a decent size and a far better likeness than that for Ronaldo in a Portuguese airport (was it?) where it looked more like Niall Quinn.
In a world where you can be anything – Be Kind.
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