The 38-year-old Welshman has announced his retirement at the end of 2025: from Quarrata to the Welsh flag, here’s what he leaves behind
“Three words that describe me well? Relaxed. Happy. Lover of food. I think there are more than three, right?”. There are few champions. And very few of them accompany this quality with the disenchantment and irony that Geraint Thomas, 38 years old, has always had, two Olympic gold medals in the Team Pursuit (Beijing 2008 and London 2012), three World Championships and the triumph at the Tour de France in 2018. To mention only the peaks of a very long and glorious career, which will end at the end of the season that is about to begin. In Cardiff, where he was born, he went to Birchgrove Primary and lived just around the corner, then went to Whitchurch High. He swam and played football and rugby. It’s thanks to swimming that he chose cycling. “I got pretty good at it and they wanted me to go to the pool in the morning before school. I said to myself: I don’t want to get up at half past five. That’s how I started cycling.” Luckily for us, we were able to enjoy his company, his incessant jokes, his kindness. We tried to line up the reasons why we will miss Thomas.