Geraint Howell Thomas ( , ; born 25 May 1986) is a Welsh former professional racing cyclist who rode for UCI WorldTeam , Wales and Great Britain. He is one of the few riders in the modern era to achieve significant elite success as both a track and road rider, with notable victories in the velodrome, in one-day racing and in stage racing. On the track, he won three World Championships (2007, 2008, and 2012), and two Olympic gold medals (2008 and 2012), while on the road he won the 2018 Tour de France becoming the first Welshman and third British rider to win it.
His early successes were in track cycling, in which he was a specialist in the team pursuit. He won three World Championships and was Olympic gold medallist twice, in 2008 and 2012. Thomas had an early win on the road at the 2004 Paris–Roubaix Juniors and later had a senior victory at the 2010 British National Road Race Championships. Leaving track cycling to focus solely on the road, he subsequently found success in both one-day/classic races such as the 2014 Commonwealth Games road race and the 2015 E3 Harelbeke, and in one week stage races, most notably at the 2016 Paris–Nice, the 2017 Tour of the Alps, the 2018 Critérium du Dauphiné, the 2021 Tour de Romandie and the 2022 Tour de Suisse.
In cycling's grand tours, Thomas was initially a lead domestique to Chris Froome in his victories. He won the first stage of the 2017 Tour de France, an individual time trial, to become the first Welshman to wear the Tour's yellow jersey. He later crashed in that race, as well as in the 2017 Giro d'Italia. Thomas became the first Welshman to win the Tour de France when he won the race in 2018. He gained the yellow jersey by winning stage 11, extended his lead by winning stage 12, and retained the lead for the remainder of the race. In the same year he won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, becoming the first Welshman to win the award since Ryan Giggs in 2009. In 2019, he confirmed his Grand Tour pedigree when he reached the podium again, having finished runner-up in the Tour de France behind teammate Egan Bernal. In 2022, Thomas became the first Welshman to win the Tour de Suisse and later that year recorded another podium finish at the Tour de France, placing third. A fourth grand tour podium, and a first outside of the Tour de France, was won in 2023 as Thomas took second place in the Giro d'Italia, losing the race lead to Primož Roglič on the penultimate day. A fifth grand tour podium was secured in the following Giro, less than half a minute behind runner-up Danny Martinez, but almost ten minutes behind winner Tadej Pogacar. After the race, Thomas suggested he would no longer race for general classification at the grand tours.
Early life and amateur career Born in Cardiff, Wales, Thomas attended Whitchurch High School from 1996 to 2003. He began cycling with the Maindy Flyers Cycling Club at Maindy Stadium at the age of 10, where he rode with future Team Sky teammate Luke Rowe, before going on to ride for other local clubs, Cycling Club Cardiff and Cardiff Just in Front. His first race bike was a blue Giant. Following some successes in under-14 and under-16 events, including National Championships, his first notable success came when he won silver medal in the points race at the 2004 UEC European Track Championships, at that time a junior and under-23 event.
Professional career
2005–2006: early years Thomas became a member of British Cycling's Olympic Academy. He won the Carwyn James Junior Award at the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year ceremony. Thomas competed at World Cup events around the world, and was training in Sydney, Australia, in February 2005 when he crashed after the rider in front of him hit a piece of metal in the road which was flicked up into Thomas's wheel. He suffered internal bleeding after the piece of metal entered his body during the fall, rupturing his spleen which subsequently had to be removed.
He rode most of his races of 2006 for , but towards the end of 2006 joined as a stagiaire. He also rode a few races, such as the Tour of Britain, for the Great Britain squad.
2007: Tour de France debut
Thomas made his Tour de France debut at the 2007 race as the youngest rider in the race as picked up one of the three wildcard spots allocated for the race. He became the first Welsh rider to compete in the race since Colin Lewis in 1967. Thomas received great support from Welsh fans at the opening of the race, with several following the entire race. He completed his first Tour de France, finishing 140th of 141 finishers.
He was nominated for the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year award in 2007. The winners were announced on 2 December, and Thomas came third in the public vote.
2008: Olympic gold Thomas did not compete in the Tour de France, instead, he rode the Giro d'Italia earlier in the season before returning to Britain to concentrate on preparations for the Summer Olympics in Beijing. On discovering that the flags of non-participating nations would not be allowed at the Games, Thomas said: "It would be great to do a lap of honour draped in the Welsh flag if I win a gold medal, and I'm very disappointed if this rule means that would not be possible."
On 17 August, Thomas was a member of the Olympic team pursuit squad which broke the world record in the heats with a time of 3:55.202, beating their Russian opponents comfortably to go through to the final ride-off for silver and gold. The following day, on their way to winning the gold medal, the British Team pursuit broke their own world record in a time of 3:53.314, beating their Danish competitors by 6.7 seconds. Thomas had been a possible contender in the individual pursuit, but opted not to ride both events as he did not want to compromise the efforts of his team. He had also been considered to compete in the Madison with Bradley Wiggins but it was Mark Cavendish who was selected to do so; Chris Boardman stated that "Geraint keeps surpassing people's expectations".
Following the disqualification of fellow teammate, Moisés Dueñas, from the Tour de France, Thomas expressed his strong anti-doping opinions on his blog on the BBC 6-0-6 website: "...if someone is fraudulent in a business, wouldn't they be facing a prison term? I don't see how riders taking drugs to win races and lying to their teams is any different. Bang them up and throw away the key!"
In December, he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.
2009
Thomas suffered a bad start to his 2009 season when he broke his pelvis and fractured his nose in a fall; he crashed into a safety barrier having misjudged a turn in the time trial stage of the Tirreno–Adriatico in Macerata, Italy. The crash came shortly after an time check showed he was second fastest on the road. Although he was able to return to his team hotel from hospital the same day, a period of 20 days complete rest was required before he would be able to resume training.
On 30 October 2009, Thomas set the fastest pursuit time under current rules, at the time, when he completed in 4:15.105 at the first round of the 2009–10 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics at Manchester Velodrome. Thomas's time was only surpassed by Chris Boardman's 4:11.114, set in 1996 on a bicycle position that had since been banned. On 1 November, on the last day of the World Cup round, Thomas was a member of the team pursuit squad which set the second-fastest time ever on their way to the gold medal, setting a new track record of 3 minutes 54.395 seconds in the process.
Thomas was runner-up to Ryan Giggs in the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year award in 2009; the winners were announced on 8 December. He left Barloworld at the end of 2009 to join new British team, .
2010: move to Team Sky Thomas began 2010 as part of the team time trial winning team for Sky at the Tour of Qatar. After competing in the classics, he impressed at the Critérium du Dauphiné, finishing in the top ten in each of the opening four stages. As a result of these finishes, he was the leader in green jersey competition for stages two, four and six. He finished fifth in the green jersey competition overall, and twenty-first in the general classification.
Thomas beat teammate Peter Kennaugh to win the 2010 British National Road Race Championships. His good form continued into the Tour de France, in which he finished fifth in the prologue, a second behind the highest-placed overall contender Lance Armstrong. He then finished second on stage three, a stage that was marred by numerous crashes and splits in the peloton, which Thomas managed to avoid. This led to him leading the young rider classification after stage three. He finished 67th overall in the Tour, and ninth in the young rider classification.
Thomas had been due to travel to Delhi, India, in September to compete in the Commonwealth Games, but pulled out, as did several other cyclists, due to health concerns. Dengue fever was one specific concern cited. Illness was especially a risk for Thomas following the removal of his spleen in 2005. Following the decision, Thomas said "It's a massive disappointment, I only get to ride for Wales once every four years, but that's the decision I had to make."
2011
Thomas started 2011 with some promising performances in the classics, finishing sixth in the Classica Sarda and second in the Dwars door Vlaanderen before placing tenth in the Tour of Flanders Thomas claimed his first professional victory in May, by winning the five-day Bayern Rundfahrt race, after finishing second on stage 3 and fifth on stage 4. On 26 June 2011, Thomas finished second to Bradley Wiggins in the British National Road Race Championships.
At the Tour de France, Thomas finished sixth on the opening stage to take the white jersey. He retained the jersey the following day, as Sky finished third in the team time trial. Thomas lost the white jersey to Robert Gesink on stage 7, as team leader Bradley Wiggins crashed out of the Tour, and the remaining Sky riders lost time after waiting for him. Thomas won the combativity award on the stage 12, following an aggressive breakaway into the first Pyrenean stage, that saw him lose control twice on the descent of La Hourquette d'Ancizan. He finished 36th on the stage after being caught by the general classification leaders with to go on the final climb of the day, and rose to 25th overall. Thomas signed a new three-year contract with Sky after stage 16. He finished 31st overall in the Tour.
Thomas had a successful Tour of Britain, winning the points classification, having been highly placed in the overall standings before a crash. He was part of the Great Britain team for the road race at the UCI Road World Championships, and helped lead out Mark Cavendish to victory.
2012: second gold
Thomas focused on track cycling for the 2012 season, competing at the Summer Olympics in London. As such, the Giro d'Italia was his road race priority, before turning his focus to the track. In March, Thomas did ride Paris–Nice, where he helped Bradley Wiggins take overall victory. On 4 April Thomas was a member of the British team pursuit team that won gold at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Melbourne, with a new world record of 3:53.295 seconds. He also teamed up with Ben Swift to take the silver medal in the madison. Thomas then returned to the road, winning the prologue of the Tour de Romandie.
Thomas finished second behind Taylor Phinney in the opening time trial of the Giro d'Italia. Thomas acted as lead out man to Mark Cavendish in the race, helping him to three stage victories. Thomas also finished second to Marco Pinotti in the final stage time trial in Milan.