Ineos Grenadiers will wear a special kit at the Tour of Britain Men next week to honour Geraint Thomas, who will be racing for a final time before retirement.
The kit, released on social media on Wednesday, is a largely red affair, with a Welsh dragon across the middle and a green collar, aping the flag of Wales and the kits of Wales' national teams. It also features the TotalEnergies logo, as all Ineos kits have since the Tour de France.
Thomas, 39, is retiring this year after almost two decades in the professional peloton, bowing out at his home race. He will be honoured with a stage finish in his home town of Cardiff. Moving forward, he is expected to stay on at Ineos in a management role.
The jersey includes the names of people who have been with Thomas along the way. It also references to some of the former Tour de France winner's greatest achievements, including his Olympic and Commonwealth Games golds, his British National Championships victory, and his stage win atop Alpe d'Huez on his way to the yellow jersey in 2018.
The years of his career run down the white band on the back, and it also has a picture drawn by Thomas' son, Macs, of him atop a podium.
"It’s pretty cool, apparently that’s me, that’s him, and that’s Lucas actually. Lucas Hamilton, that’s a bit random," Thomas explained in a video launching the jersey. "Lucas was obviously new to the team, and we were down in Oz, and this is where Macs drew the picture just after that."
"Certainly the most meaningful jersey [I've ever had], that’s for sure," he added. "I think it definitely will be emotional come the final stage, you know, finishing in Cardiff, wearing this. I even got the dates here in the collar. My very first race, 17 January 2007 at the Tour Down Under, last race 7 September 2025, the Tour of Britain. Well hopefully it’s my last race, hopefully I make it there.
"I’m looking forward to it, it’s definitely something I’m going to soak up and enjoy."
"It is kind of strange to think come, well just over a sort of week and a half's time, I will not be a professional athlete anymore," Thomas told the BBC this week.
The Lloyds Tour of Britain begins in Woodbridge, East Suffolk, next Tuesday, and concludes in Cardiff the following Sunday, 7 September.
