Geraint Thomas’s professional career started in 2007, just four years after helmet-wearing was made mandatory. Nearly two decades on, with the 2024 Grand Tour season underway, it’s testament to his longevity that he’s still seen as a podium contender in every race he starts.
Resilience, durability, strength of character – these are the traits that are now associated with him. When it comes to commitment to the Ineos Grenadiers cause, there’s no doubting Thomas. Right now though, he’s warming to his theme of ‘those pesky kids’…
‘I don’t want to sound like this old guy that’s berating the younger guys all the time,’ the 2018 Tour de France winner says as he relaxes one evening midway through the Tour of the Alps and before the start of the Giro d’Italia, where he’ll go on to finish third, ‘but I just feel like riders turning pro straight out of the juniors, or who’ve done one year [as a pro], they still need more of an apprenticeship.
‘They’re super athletes, they’ve got super talent, they do all these watts – !’ he says sardonically of the endless stream of young talents now buzzing around at the front of the bunch. ‘But they don’t necessarily understand how to race, in the peloton, close to each other at those speeds. That adds a bit more
