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The first ever Team Sky training camp came to an end and experienced Australian Mathew Hayman worries a bit about Wales' only 23-year-old cyclist with mid-length and black hair, where he barely
But the last night, the young riders of the newly formed British team came out, and what appeared? Geraint Thomas of Cardiff, invariably known as "G", took all his new colleagues in tow
"Everyone went where" G "went," remembers Hayman, 40, years later. "I quickly realized that the young riders were all going to him," G "is very funny, very friendly and a mood maker, so all those young guests wanted to be where he was."
Nicolas Portal, who was in 2010 last year, as a Team Sky pilot and now team leader for the British team, Thomas has agreed to play a leading role . "G was already Olympic champion in 2010. That makes him a great gentleman for Sky's young runners."
According to Portal, Thomas has not changed in eight years. "Well, he now knows a few words of French," jokes the Frenchman. "But he's still the same person" G "may seem a bit mysterious from the outside, but he's just like that: cool, casual."
Hayman: "It's someone you like to go to a party or together I do not know if it's going on these weeks in all the interviews that he gives, but he's really a nice guy. "
Track Cycling
Behind this likable appearance is a highly motivated and disciplined athlete. . Thomas is part of the British Cycling Academy and the discipline is an essential part of the training of the British Cycling Federation, which has produced so many great talents.
When Thomas had drunk too much in 2005 for his nineteenth birthday and had gone too long during and after the Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan, he had to go out with the three big bosses Rod Ellingsworth, Dave Brailsford (now the team leader at Sky) and Shane Sutton
A possible punishment, because I was not allowed to compete in a race in Wales , which hurt a lot, "said Thomas three years ago in an interview with Cyclist ." In addition, we had to train with Bradley Wiggins and Steve Cummings, which was our real punishment: six hours in the hills with both. "
The Welshman, like Wiggins and so many other British, started on the track .. success In 2008 and 2012, he and his British team became Olympic champions in the team pursuit.
"Sa vocational training has made it a very dedicated driver, "said Portal. "When I started as a team leader," G "was still in Mark Cavendish's sprint, and when I told him that he had to be at that position at 800 meters from the line, you could be 100% sure The moment would be right there. "
Barloworld
Daryl Impey drops a moment of silence when asked about his memories of his time at Barloworld , the procontinental team where the South African was in 2008 and 2009 teammate of Thomas and Froome
"Pooh, we were still young at the time," says Impey, 33, in Millau for the bus from his current team Mitchelton-Scott. "We regularly talk to some former Barloworld runners that we had a really good team at the time, but no one knew ten years ago that Froome and Thomas would reach that level."
Thomas established his first real life at Barloworld. steps in road cycling. In 2007, his first year serving the Italian / British team, he was allowed to debut in the Tour. As the youngest racer in the field, 21-year-old Welshman finished in the 139th and penultimate overall.
"At that time, G was a very strong runner in the classics. he was always released soon enough, "says Impey, who is still friends with Thomas and invited him a few days earlier this year at his home in South Africa. "But" G "always had a big bike, and little by little he became the driver that he is now."
"Thomas began to dream of the yellow jersey when he saw until Wiggins arrived" [19659020] Mathew Hayman
Wiggins
This is a runner who has many similarities with Wiggins, who was a teammate of Thomas at Sky between 2010 and 2015. Wiggins also started on the track, won three gold medals at the Games and then decided to retrain a classification rider on the road. Successfully, because the flamboyant Englishman won the first Brit Tour in 2012.
"I think G also started dreaming about the yellow jersey when he saw where Wiggins arrived," Hayman says. , who from 2010 to and with Sky 2013 in the team with Thomas and Wiggins. "G knew he had to lose a lot and train very hard, but he really saw opportunities:" If Bradley can win the Tour, then I can do it. as & # 39 ;. "
When the Portal last week his student Thomas in the yellow jersey saw after his victory in the second alpine tour, he also had to think unintentionally Wiggins
"They may not have followed exactly the same way, but put side by side their lists of honors. " in 2012, Thomas in 2016, ed.) and Dauphine won (Wiggins in 2011 and 2012, Thomas in 2018, ed.) agree, & gt; He is not yet a world champion against the clock, but he could be a better climber than Wiggins, G & # 39; is less known than Wiggins, not a big star, but he can do anything, he has become a real high level runner. "
Famous [19659008] The Second Day of Rest Tour, geletruidrager Thomas is next to four-time winner Froome and he explains to the massively extorted press that the two are good friends. "We've been in the same team for eleven years, we've always been training together, and we're going well together, at least, now. "
For a brief moment, Thomas shows a glimpse of the real" in the ride rides. "G & # 39 ;, the man who, according to the leader of the Sky's team, Servais Knaven, "has a lot of humor." "He's not one who's telling jokes all day, but he's making a joke once." he may very well get out of the corner. "
That Thomas on the eve of the most important week of his cycling life Another joke, sem show that the Briton is not yet overcome by the pressure associated with the wearing of the yellow jersey. "But this is not surprising, because if you have to select a group of people who are in a position to cope with the pressure in a particularly good way, it is the workers who are preparing for a race, the Olympics, for four years, "says Knaven." A team pursuit is only 4 kilometers and everything must come true. If you can handle this pressure, you can do a lot. "
And so no one who knows him seems to doubt that Thomas, who is in a big Round never finished in the top 10, Sunday in Paris has still the yellow jersey in his possession.
"I absolutely see him as the favorite for the overall victory," says Impey. "His time trial is very good and he's riding very well, I'm friends with Chris and with "G", so I do not want to take sides, but I'd really like "G" to win his first round and then I can say that I already knew him before he was famous. "
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