Geraint Thomas: 'Insane' dream becomes reality for the humble Welshman
He has grafted time and time again for his team, but now the Cardiff boy has deservedly basked in the limelight.
Sunday 29 July 2018 22:42, UK
"Winning the Tour de France would be insane, so I鈥檓 trying my best not to think about it."
This was Geraint Thomas chatting to me last Monday morning in Carcassonne, sitting beside his friend and teammate Chris Froome.
The toughest week of the most gruelling and prestigious bike race in the world was about to unfold and the popular Welshman kept using one word to describe the prospect of actually winning it: "Insane."
The Tour meant so much to him that he simply wouldn't allow himself to even contemplate victory. Now the title is his.
There can only ever be one person in the yellow jersey and this is Thomas's time. For years he has emptied the tank for others; an unselfish teammate ready to break himself for the greater good.
:: A long road: Thomas's journey to Tour glory
If you were picking any team, in any walk of life, you'd want a Geraint Thomas in it.
A grafter with no ego, a sharp sense of humour and when it comes down to what Froome calls "the pointy end of the Tour" he'll be there for you.
From day one he has been with Team Sky. He is one of the originals. Over the years, when Froome needed him to keep going and keep pulling for him, Thomas did so - once even with a broken pelvis.
Now 'G', as his teammates call him, has ridden into Paris in the famous yellow jersey that he has watched Froome and Bradley Wiggins wear in the French capital.
It's a measure of the man that he found time this week to send a video message back to Wales to a lady who helped him when he was a schoolboy.
Debbie Wharton was his first coach at Maindy Flyers velodrome in the early 1990s. Her 14-year-old daughter is ill and Thomas told her to "keep fighting". It brought tears to the family.
His victory was also special for coach Rod Ellingworth of Team Sky. He has been with 'G' all the way from his academy days into professional racing life.
"I remember the first day I saw him ride a bike," Ellingworth told me.
"I was at a track in Manchester and Geraint was this 14-year-old kid. Someone said to me 'you have to come look at this boy from Wales'. And I did. I'm so proud of him and how hard he has worked for this."
Wales has always been proud of the Cardiff boy with two Olympic gold medals.
I interviewed Thomas at last year's Giro d'Italia in Sardinia and he said the greatest day of his career was retaining his gold medal at London 2012. He maintained that keeping his gold was harder and better than winning it in Beijing the first time round.
The greatest day? Maybe he would change his mind after he rode into Paris in yellow.
"Prince of Wales, King of France", as the TV commentator said the other day. Chapeau, Geraint Thomas.