The true-false of Geraint Thomas

Tour de France

Published on Wednesday, July 25, 2018 at 12:00 | Updated on 25/07/2018 at 12:12

Has the Yellow Jersey already finished a race in stages in front of Chris Froome? Is it true that he was last in his first Tour? Has he renewed his contract? The answers are there, and more.

He finished last of his first Tour de France
                                            

But that was not far from true. He finished 139th and penultimate in 2007, at 3:46:51 of the winner Alberto Contador. It was his first Grand Tour, while he was still doubling road and track. Dave Brailsford recalled Monday "that he spent most of the Tour 500 meters behind the pack" . The only rider he had advanced, six minutes, was the Belgian Wim Vansevenant, 35, also last in 2006 and 2008.
                    

He ran with Chris Froome before Sky
                                            

Thomas went pro in 2007 at Barloword, led by former Italian champion Claudio Corti, after being a trainee at Saunier-Duval. He is joined by Froome the following year. Although they only had one day of running together in 2008 at the Scheldt GP, they learned to know each other better in 2009 by competing together several races in stages. At the same time, they joined the new Sky team in 2010.
                    

He never finished a race in stages in front of Froome
                                            

But it's rarely happened. Of the thirteen stage races they have played and finished together, this has only happened three times, and only one since 2011 (Tirreno-Adriatico this year, 3rd against 34th). If we limit ourselves to Grand Tours, Geraint Thomas has never been ahead of Chris Froome. They have six in common, Froome has won four and he abandoned the other two times, during the 2014 Tour and the 2015 Vuelta.
                    

He's the best Welsh cyclist in history
                                            

Thomas was double Olympic champion and triple world champion on track and winner on road, among others, of Paris-Nice and Dauphiné. For the moment, there is only one cyclist in the Welsh Men's Hall of Fame, Jimmy Michael, a World Champion Tracker at the end of the 19th century. Several Welsh women have been world champions more recently, Nicole Cooke on the road, Sally Hodge and Rebecca James on track.
                    

He lives in the Canary Islands
                                            

Certainly, Sky's runners spend a lot of time in the Canary Islands, and more specifically to train on the Teide, the highest volcano in Spain. But Geraint Thomas lives in Monaco, knowing that he also kept a home in Cardiff, the city where he was born and where he grew up. He is not the only cyclist to have established his base in the Principality. This is particularly the case of Philippe Gilbert, Richie Porte and … Chris Froome.
                    

He never won a race for a day
                                            

Putting aside the British Championships, which he won the online race (2010) and the time trial (2018), Thomas won just one race a day. But a beautiful, the E3 Harelbeke GP in 2015. His first attack in Old Quaremont, 36 kilometers from the finish, could only be followed by Peter Sagan and Zdenek Stybar. They had then won four kilometers from the goal to win alone.
                    

He arrives at the end of the contract
                                            

His contract with Sky expires this year. If he hoped to have resolved his contractual situation before the start of the Tour de France, this was not officially the case. "I can consider being a leader in another team. I'm happy at Sky. The main condition for staying is to be leader. But to be a leader, you have to have your legs. If that's the case I'll have that chance " he said during the last Dauphiné.
                    

X.C. in Trie-sur-Baise