For a man who had only slept for five hours, Geraint Thomas cut a relaxed figure at the start of his last professional race, the Tour of Britain Men.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider, victim of a delayed flight, touched down in Stansted Airport in the early hours of Tuesday morning. He arrived to the start of stage one in Woodbridge smiling, flanked by his team-mates, and cheered by the crowds, who gathered to wave off the Welshman’s 19-year-career.
“I'm really looking forward to it,” Thomas said ahead of the six-day race. “I wasn't sure if I was going to get here yesterday, with the flights and stuff, but happy to be here now. I'm buzzing.”
The problem stemmed from a fault with the plane, he explained. “And then the storm came in, so the other plane to take us couldn't get in, and there were flights being cancelled all over the place,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘Uff, [it] could be tight here.’ But luckily, the flight finally went around midnight, I think, so I went to bed at two. [I got] five hours or so [sleep]. So it could be worse. It's not so bad.”
Predictably, Thomas was the most in demand of all the riders at the team presentation. His arrival on the podium triggered roars from the fans, a number of whom waved large cardboard cut-outs of the Ineos Grenadiers rider’s head.
After signing on, Thomas returned to a welcoming mob at his team bus, where he posed for photos, signed a fan’s cuddly toy, and high-fived a toddler. He was among the last to make it to the start line.
“The main thing is enjoying it, really making the most of it,” he said. “Obviously, we've got a strong team here, so I’ll do my bit for the boys. I'm not really in the shape to win myself, but we've got some good guys here to perform.”
This week’s Tour of Britain is the Welshman’s 10th, in a career that has counted two Olympic gold medals and a Tour de France yellow jersey. To commemorate his two decades in the peloton, Ineos Grenadiers are wearing custom-designed Welsh jerseys at the race, while Thomas is riding a specially painted bike, with a gold dragon design across the frame.
“It's a bit mad, actually, the amount of effort the team's gone into with the jersey and the bikes and stuff, but obviously with the organisers as well, making their finishing Cardiff. It's going to be a special week,” Thomas said.
Waiting for this final race, he added, has been like being a child when “Christmas seems so far away”.
“It's certainly been a year of lasts, really, but now the last again, a bit more significant,” he said. “Suddenly it's here: the last week of racing. I'm going to try and enjoy it.”
After an opening pair of stages in Suffolk, the Tour of Britain Men will travel west to its conclusion in Cardiff on Sunday, where a homecoming stage is planned for Thomas. Afterwards, he will attend a farewell party with 4,000 fans at the city's castle.
Asked how he feels about retiring, the 39-year-old said: “It feels like the right time, so I'm happy I'm finishing, but it's going to be strange.”
