There are disputes in cycling about when the season really begins. Some say it starts Down Under, with the Australian WorldTour events. Others argue it’s Opening Weekend, and the first taste of Belgian cobbles at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
For us at Cycling Weekly, though, the gun fires when Geraint Thomas makes his first dad joke.
That moment came this week, when, on a training camp with Ineos Grenadiers, the Welshman marvelled at Tenerife’s Teide National Park. He posted a silhouetted mountain skyline to his Instagram, set to a backdrop of purple and yellow hues.
No, he hasn't taken up photography. The picture was but an accompaniment to his first gag of the season.
“Stayed up all night to see where the sun went,” Thomas wrote. “Then it dawned on me.”
Social media users worldwide lifted their palms to their faces. The Welshman, a Tour de France winner and father of one, had done it again.
The joke sets Thomas up for another year of cycling success and one-liners, and follows on from a season where he delivered some of his greatest hits.
At last year’s Giro d’Italia, while he was leading the race, Thomas called out to his Twitter followers. “Do you want to hear a dad joke?” He asked.
He then made his audience wait almost 24 hours, before returning to the mic. “Did you hear about the Italian chef with a terminal illness?” he wrote. “He pastaway. Cannoli do so much. Now he’s just a pizza history.”
The tweet garnered 3,000 likes, and the respect of Hollywood actor Ben Stiller, a known super-fan of the Welshman, who replied: “Not afraid to do edgy material. All the more reason to be a fan.”
The following month, Thomas’s gags continued, this time delivered to a team masseur. “I’ve got a great joke about construction,” he said during a leg rub-down, before delivering the kicker. “I’m still working on it.”
Keep them coming, G.
Also on social media this week, Tadej Pogačar goes riding with the UCI president, Alison Jackson cuts some shapes and Great Britain's cyclo-cross squad show off their winter fashion.
1. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the Hammersmith Apollo, Geraint Thomas
2. The Welshman's a professional bike rider, joke cracker and now, volcano hiker
3. Nothing to see here, just two mates out for a bike ride
Happy to ride with @TamauPogi in Abu Dhabi today. pic.twitter.com/Ztligk6JfvJanuary 25, 2024
4. Tadej Pogačar's cousin, Tadpole Frogačar, was in action at the AlUla Tour in Saudi Arabia
😂 We don't think we've ever seen a 👆 finger puppet in a bike race before! 🤔Polychronis Tzortzakis had some fun in the breakaway today at @thealulatour #AlUlaTour pic.twitter.com/NGkOf5t3kGFebruary 1, 2024
5. There must have been an offer on bobble hats
6. You just don't see three-quarter-length trousers around these days. Bring them back, I say
Cool image of 12 years old Tadej Pogačar winning the Criterium Grand Prix race in Idrija, Slovenia. Winner from the beginning. 🇸🇮🏆📷: Klemen Petrič pic.twitter.com/ulMPlT15U0January 31, 2024
7. Here's Megan Jastrab, a young graduate of the 'Surf's Up Surfing School'
Clearly happy on the bike from a young age, join us in wishing @JastrabMegan a very happy 22nd birthday! 😊🎁 We hope you have a great day, Megan! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/rzcD2BxYlwJanuary 29, 2024
8. The secret behind track sprinting success, it turns out, is very heavily iced cake
9. Abi Smith was forced to do some impromptu cyclo-cross over in Australia
10. I wonder if Georgia Baker's slick custom shoes are just as good for running
11. Anyone fancy some minty fresh Bora-Hansgrohe kicks?
12. Alison Jackson has got her dancing shoes back on (not literally, she's only in socks)
13. Road rash, one of cycling's cruelest injuries
Gonnaaaa be a good and long night 🤣#AlUlaTour pic.twitter.com/6IArftSyq9February 1, 2024
14. I once broke a collarbone in a nasty bike crash. Fortunately, it wasn't mine. (How's that for a dad joke, Geraint?)
Life’s a game of snakes and ladders ⚖️Finishing a cool month in 🇦🇺 with my 3rd broken collarbone 🙃 pic.twitter.com/bpafRD8JNNJanuary 28, 2024
