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ESPELETTE, France – Five years ago, during the Tour de France in favor of Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas fell off his bike on a Corsican road in the first stage and broke the pelvis.
Against all odds, Thomas soldier 3,000 kilometers and three weeks up to the finish line in Paris, where he celebrated the first of four victories of Froome with the rest of his Team Sky teammates. .
Unless accident Sunday on the stage of the Champs-Elysees, it will be Thomas's turn to add a first triumph at the Grand Tour to an already glorious career.
"He is a true fighter," says Sky director Dave Brailsford, the man who orchestrated British success at the Olympics and the Tour de France "Bradley Wiggins and Froome
" When he He was fractured hip five years ago, he could not even ride a bike in the team time trial that followed. He continued and finished the race. It says a lot about his personality. Since his early years, he has always wanted to win. "
At 32 years old, the new Tour de France champion is anything but an overnight success
Growing up on the outskirts of Cardiff, Wales 10, and his exceptional qualities have not gone unnoticed since
"I saw him for the first time at age 13 or 14 and he joined me at age 17," says Rod Ellingworth, Team Sky's director of performance as a coach of British team. "You could see right away that he was just flying around the track, he was pretty good. As he joined the junior program, you just knew that he was going to be quite talented. "
Thomas's first success came on the track, and in 2006 he was the youngest member of the British pursuit team who competed at the world championships, and in 2008 he won the medal. Olympic gold alongside Wiggins Four years later, in London, with a second gold medal obtained in the same event, Thomas leaves the track to focus on the road race.
by his coaches as a dedicated professional with a healthy and balanced lifestyle, Thomas has already shown The Paris-Roubaix Junior Race in 2004.
"Geraint's ambition was first and foremost. to be a clbadic, says Ellingworth. "Then he ran the Tour in 2007 and three years later, he was wearing the white jersey (for the best youngster). He had this ambition to win the Tour in the back of his mind. "
At the time, Thomas was the youngest cyclist to start this 2007 Tour when he started in London
most of the time at the back of the pack that year and no one thought that he would finish the race, "recalls Brailsford." He did it again. He showed his character. "
Thomas, who is nicknamed" G "in the peloton, finished 140th, penultimate.
Years later, he introduced himself as a potential winner of the Grand Tour when he won Paris-Nice in 2016. According to Ellingworth, this victory over Tour de France double winner Alberto Contador marked a decisive turning point.
But Thomas, Sky's pilot since 2010, suffered pain and injuries on next day, forced to retire from the Tour and Giro because of accidents.He still wore the yellow jersey of the Tour after winning the time trial but had fractured his collarbone in an accident
"This year, he arrived at the Tour in very good shape and his victory at the Critérium du Dauphine in the buildup gave him a boost of confidence," says Brailsford. of great importance. "
As in previous years es, Thomas started the Tour to help Froome try to win for the fifth time in a row. But Froome crashed into the first stage and lost time, then cracked in the Pyrenees while Thomas' prodigious form was rewarded with impressive victories in the Alps
Sky, and especially Froome, have been victims of abuse. of a doping case only a few days before departure. But Thomas seemed immune to the jeers and jeers that accompanied them through this 3,350-kilometer odyssey. He won two consecutive stages in the mountains and became the first Briton to win at Alpe d'Huez. He sealed his victory with a third place Saturday in the time trial.
"He's really laid back, but not like he did not care," says Ellingworth. "He's really detailed on what he's doing.He really trusts him and uses his people very well.You do not mind going a step further for him."
Thomas lives and goes to Monaco with his wife but often comes back to Cardiff to socialize with friends and family. For a long time, he had the reputation of being a party animal, always ready to drink a few pints while watching a rugby match.
"Like many young Britons, he likes to have a drink or two, but he's not wild," Ellingworth says. "When he was with me full time, we lived in Manchester or in Italy, I encouraged him to go out and get out of his system, in a way, he just loves life. As he gets older, he is married, and things have calmed down. "
Now he is at the peak of his career, but out of contract with Sky at the end of the season. Thomas has not yet decided on his future with the British outfit. Brailsford is confident that he will remain a Sky pilot, while Ellingworth insists on Thomas's "mental abilities" and the love for the bike races will encourage him to continue.
"He is loyal, I have never doubted it. When the team needed him, he was still there, "says Brailsford. "After all these years spent giving to others, he was finally rewarded."
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Andrew Dampf and Ciaran Fahey contributed to this story.
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: https://apnews.com/tag/TourdeFrance
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