Cycling great Thomas bids emotional Tour farewell

BBC News

6 days ago

There is a scene in Goodfellas, a continuous one-take shot as iconic as the film itself, where the protagonist Henry takes his future wife Karen to an exclusive club, skipping the queue by entering via a backdoor, walking through a vast, winding kitchen and into the dining room, handing out cash and fleeting niceties to the scores of different people he passes along the way.You may have seen it even if you have not watched the film. A table is then specially brought to the new couple, played by Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco, in a prime position near the stage, and a fellow diner sends over champagne.On Sunday night in Paris, walking alongside Geraint Thomas making his way from the Tour de France finish line to his team bus felt like a cyclist's reimagining of that scene.As the 39-year-old is retiring at the end of the year, this was his final Tour, a chance to bid farewell to the race that made him a national hero when he won it in 2018. And everybody wanted a piece of him.Still in his kit, on his bike and with his five-year-old son Macs sat on the handlebar, Thomas could barely move without a hand reaching out for a high five. As he wheeled past rival team buses, riders and coaches were constantly calling his name, falling over themselves to congratulate the Welshman.Few achievements elevate one's status in Paris like wearing the yellow jersey as the Tour de France champion, crowned atop the podium in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe.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."I'm not one to be too sentimental and look back or whatever, you're always sort of thinking of the next thing. But I guess when it comes to the end there's nothing else to look forward to is there?"
Thomas is not an outwardly emotional or demonstrative person by nature, but the Tour is a race like no other, a cultural phenomenon that transcends cycling.It is the reason why Thomas, as a child, begged his parents for a Eurosport subscription, why he rushed home from school to watch on TV, hooked on a sport which was something of an alternative curiosity when it came to the sporting order of things in the UK in the 1990s.The Tour, however, has always cut through. Mention the yellow jersey to almost anyone and they will think of this race, regardless of whether or not they've actually ever watched it.That is why Thomas has often said that it was winning the Tour that really changed his life.Even after successive Olympic gold medals and several world titles, he was only occasionally recognised even in his home city of Cardiff when he went out with friends and family.But once he became Tour champion, Thomas was hurled into a different stratosphere.He was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, sat next to Nicole Kidman on Graham Norton's sofa and exchanged shirts with Lionel Messi at the Camp Nou. There were backstage passes for an Elton John concert too, what with Thomas signed up by Sir Elton's agency.None of that was remotely normal for a cyclist, regardless of how successful or likeable Thomas might be. Cycling is not a sport that lends itself to a glamorous lifestyle.Riders have to sacrifice their family lives, their social lives, their diet – pretty much everything – to make it to the top.Then there is the colossal physical effort the sport demands.This was Thomas' 14th Tour, during which he has cycled for more than 1,000 hours and in excess of 26,000 miles – which is longer than the circumference of the earth.That still only makes up a fraction of the distances he will have clocked in all his other races and training sessions; literal years spent on a bike.No wonder, then, that he was ready to call it a day."It definitely feels like the right time now. It was a super hard race," Thomas said."The Tour is always hard, but the way racing is changing, not just physically, the aggression in the peloton and everything, the respect, everything is changing, so I'm definitely happy to be stepping away now."
A decision on what comes next can wait. First, a chance to spend more time with family.When Thomas sealed victory after the final time trial in 2018, the first person he saw after crossing the finish line was his wife Sara, flown in by the team bosses to surprise their new champion. On Sunday, she was by his side once more."It hasn't really hit home yet that this is the last one. We were just walking up the Champs Elysees, seeing the Arc de Triomphe and thinking, 'It's not every day you get to do this'," Sara said."It is a big part of our life but we're both very sure it's the right time to finish and excited for what lies ahead."The highs are amazing but the lows are so incredibly low that sometimes you start thinking if it's worthwhile, but then you get those amazing days again."It's going to be strange. It's going to be quite an adjustment having him always at home. It will be nice for him to do the mundane jobs, like the school pick-up and drop-off. Less travelling and being in one place for longer. I'm looking forward to that."The feeling was mutual."When you actually start to think about everything you've been through, you know, that's when it gets a bit like... yeah, it gets you," Thomas said, his voice breaking a little."They go through so much, just as much as me, if not more because they live the highs, but they live all the lows as well."And it's just been great that Macs has been able to be on the podium with me three times. Special memories."This is not quite the end of the road for Thomas, who will retire fully at the end of this year. Before then, there is time for one final race, September's Tour of Britain which will fittingly finish in Cardiff.As a child with dreams of becoming a professional cyclists, Thomas had no Welsh role models whose paths he could follow, so he blazed his own trail.By becoming the first Welshman to win the Tour de France – having been only the second to compete in the iconic race – Thomas transformed cycling in his homeland, and secured his own legendary status.The thousands who lined the streets of Cardiff for his 2018 homecoming were proof of that; freshly-converted cycling fans congregating to form the kind of throng usually reserved for Six Nations matchdays in the Welsh capital.That is Thomas' Tour legacy."This is where it all stated," Thomas said as he motioned towards the splendour of his Parisian surroundings."I did it my first year as a pro and was the youngest guy then and the oldest guy now, so it's full circle. It's the pinnacle of the sport, it's the biggest bike race in the world."To do 14 is unreal really, one hell of a journey."