From Wales to the Champs-Elysees: The Selfless Ascension of Geraint Thomas | William Fotheringham | sport

I It's been eleven years and a month since a chubby-faced Welsh boy stood on London's Tower Bridge, marveling, with a slightly chubby young Manx, about the fact they were about to make their debut in the Tour de France. Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas were both from the legendary British Cycling Academy in Manchester, led by French coach Rod Ellingworth, who moved with Thomas in 2010 to Team Sky, where they have remained ever since. Thomas 's victory on Sunday marks another highlight for Ellingworth' s protégés

In the autobiography of Coach Chasing Rainbows 2013 (statement of interest, I l? I co-wrote), Cavendish's star, in the same way that Sir Bradley Wiggins did in the pursuit of the 2008 Olympic team four, where Thomas was a stunt while flying largely under the radar. There was a debate as to whether Wiggins should become a partner of Cavendish in the Madison Relay, as the Londoner's form was questionable; The effervescent Thomas was the man who should have taken his place.

Only one cyclist took more time than Thomas to win his first Tour de France, from triumph debut: Joop Zoetemelk, the Dutchman rangy who took the 1980 race climax of a career spent in the sport. The shadow of Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault; Thomas has always raced alongside more ambitious men such as Wiggins, Cavendish and more recently Chris Froome, reaping sufficient victories to remind spectators of his innate talent, while inspiring some frustration that he's not going to win. never really made the final breakthrough. The last four weeks may have changed that.

In British cycling, the model is now firmly established by Ellingworth, but originally planned by Peter Keen, founder of the lottery-funded cycling structure: the track race is used to develop the skills needed for the road race. This is how Thomas won junior junior clbadics like Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Paris-Roubaix as well as six-day racing races with Cavendish.

On these outings, Ellingworth inevitably remembers Thomas involved in "mbadive falls". ", Including the one in which he flayed his palms in a step run and showed up at breakfast the following morning baduming that he would only give up to be told that he was pedaling with his legs not his hands.The arrival of the Welsh at the academy, a year earlier, brought up the whole structure because of his innate talent, wrote the coach.

Ellingworth is also remember how he told a team meeting that a certain rival was such a favorite in an event that the only solution was to find a volunteer to fall in front of him. "This is Geraint Thomas who raised his hand ", to be told:" Only the joker. "The ultimate team man, then, as Froome discovered at the 2015 and 2016 Tours.

Between stays in the service of others Thomas has built a beautiful full track record: two Olympic gold medals, a race title on Commonwealth Road, a one-day clbadic – the E3 Grand Prix – and a multitude of stage races, starting with the South Arrow in 2006 and the years; the Bayern Rundfahrt in 2011 and 2014, the Volta Algarve in 2015 and 2016, Paris-Nice in 2016, the Tour des Alpes last year before the diptych of the Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour. The picture is that of a cyclist who can do anything – like Hinault, Merckx and Zoetemelk – to win a great race in stages, a time trial or a challenge in a clbadic such as the Tour. Flanders or Paris. -Roubaix

If Thomas repeats the feat of this year is open to question, especially because of the question of team leadership at Sky. At age 32, he has only a few more years to win a second Tour de France, and he has already said that the return to the Clbadics one day could become an ambition. Winning several Tours in the modern era seems to be the business of a specialist such as Froome. The obsessive tension of the altitude training camps and extreme diets should not be underestimated and Thomas is celebrated as a man who likes normal human things like a couple of beers, as he l? explained in his autobiography.

In a sense, it hardly matters. Thomas' victory has mbadive implications for cycling in Wales. The Cardiff Council took part in the ceremony Sunday with a series of events organized in a hurry to mark the occasion and in the longer term, the Welsh yellow jersey should give a new impetus to a sport that was already in the heart of South Wales. to the success of Nicole Cooke, Becky James, Thomas and fellow Sky Welshman Luke Rowe. In recent years, the Cardiff and Newport velodromes have seen a steady influx of young people, and a national under-23 team has been created this year to serve as a feeder for the Commonwealth Games.

Zoetemelk never won The Tour again, but he happily retired in 1987 after taking the title of the world road race at the age of 38 for crown a remarkable career in all directions. The modern sports world expects repeated feats, but in fact the trend is that cyclists only win the Tour once; Wiggins was outstanding not by winning a single round but never coming back after his victory. Whatever direction Thomas chooses, his story suggests that he will succeed, if not without losing a certain amount of skin along the way.