1. Geraint Thomas is one of the few riders in the modern era to achieve significant elite success as both a track and road rider, with notable victories in the velodrome, in one-day racing and in stage racing.
120 Facts About Geraint Thomas
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Geraint Thomas's early successes were in track cycling, in which he was a specialist in the team pursuit.
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Geraint Thomas won three World Championships and was Olympic gold medallist twice, in 2008 and 2012.
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In cycling's grand tours, Geraint Thomas was initially a lead domestique to Chris Froome in his victories.
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Geraint Thomas won the first stage of the 2017 Tour de France, an individual time trial, to become the first Welshman to wear the Tour's yellow jersey.
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Geraint Thomas later crashed in that race, as well as in the 2017 Giro d'Italia.
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Geraint Thomas became the first Welshman to win the Tour de France when he won the race in 2018.
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Geraint Thomas gained the yellow jersey by winning stage 11, extended his lead by winning stage 12, and retained the lead for the remainder of the race.
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In 2022, Geraint Thomas became the first Welshman to win the Tour de Suisse and later that year recorded another podium finish at the Tour de France, placing third.
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Notable for his all-round ability and adaptability rather than mastery of one specialism, Geraint Thomas has been competitive in individual time-trials, on the cobbles, in the Spring classics and in the mountains of Grand Tours, where he was the first rider in the history of the Tour de France to win at Alpe d'Huez while in yellow.
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Geraint Thomas began cycling with the Maindy Flyers Cycling Club at Maindy Stadium at the age of 10, where he rode with future Team Sky teammate Luke Rowe, before going on to ride for other local clubs, Cycling Club Cardiff and Cardiff Just in Front.
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Geraint Thomas won the Carwyn James Junior Award at the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year ceremony.
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Geraint Thomas competed at World Cup events around the world, and was training in Sydney, Australia, in February 2005 when he crashed after the rider in front of him hit a piece of metal in the road which was flicked up into Geraint Thomas's wheel.
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Geraint Thomas suffered internal bleeding after the piece of metal entered his body during the fall, rupturing his spleen which subsequently had to be removed.
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Geraint Thomas rode most of his races of 2006 for Recycling.
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Geraint Thomas rode a few races, such as the Tour of Britain, for the Great Britain squad.
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Geraint Thomas made his Tour de France debut at the 2007 race as the youngest rider in the race as Barloworld picked up one of the three wildcard spots allocated for the race.
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Geraint Thomas became the first Welsh rider to compete in the race since Colin Lewis in 1967.
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Geraint Thomas received great support from Welsh fans at the opening of the race, with several following the entire race.
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Geraint Thomas completed his first Tour de France, finishing 140th of 141 finishers.
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Geraint Thomas was nominated for the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year award in 2007.
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Geraint Thomas did not compete in the Tour de France, instead, he rode the Giro d'Italia earlier in the season before returning to Britain to concentrate on preparations for the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
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Geraint Thomas had been a possible contender in the individual pursuit, but opted not to ride both events as he did not want to compromise the efforts of his team.
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Geraint Thomas had been considered to compete in the Madison with Bradley Wiggins but it was Mark Cavendish who was selected to do so; Chris Boardman stated that "Geraint keeps surpassing people's expectations".
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Geraint Thomas's time was only surpassed by Chris Boardman's 4:11.114, set in 1996 on a bicycle position that had since been banned.
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Geraint Thomas was runner-up to Ryan Giggs in the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year award in 2009; the winners were announced on 8 December.
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Geraint Thomas left Barloworld at the end of 2009 to join new British team, Team Sky.
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Geraint Thomas began 2010 as part of the team time trial winning team for Sky at the Tour of Qatar.
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Geraint Thomas finished fifth in the green jersey competition overall, and twenty-first in the general classification.
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Geraint Thomas beat teammate Peter Kennaugh to win the 2010 British National Road Race Championships.
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Geraint Thomas then finished second on stage three, a stage that was marred by numerous crashes and splits in the peloton, which Thomas managed to avoid.
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Geraint Thomas finished 67th overall in the Tour, and ninth in the young rider classification.
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Illness was especially a risk for Geraint Thomas following the removal of his spleen in 2005.
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Geraint Thomas started 2011 with some promising performances in the classics, finishing sixth in the Classica Sarda and second in the Dwars door Vlaanderen before placing tenth in the Tour of Flanders Geraint Thomas claimed his first professional victory in May, by winning the five-day Bayern Rundfahrt race, after finishing second on stage 3 and fifth on stage 4.
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On 26 June 2011, Geraint Thomas finished second to Bradley Wiggins in the British National Road Race Championships.
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At the Tour de France, Geraint Thomas finished sixth on the opening stage to take the white jersey.
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Geraint Thomas retained the jersey the following day, as Sky finished third in the team time trial.
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Geraint Thomas lost the white jersey to Robert Gesink on stage 7, as team leader Bradley Wiggins crashed out of the Tour, and the remaining Sky riders lost time after waiting for him.
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Geraint Thomas finished 36th on the stage after being caught by the general classification leaders with 7 kilometres to go on the final climb of the day, and rose to 25th overall.
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Geraint Thomas signed a new three-year contract with Sky after stage 16.
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Geraint Thomas had a successful Tour of Britain, winning the points classification, having been highly placed in the overall standings before a crash.
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Geraint Thomas was part of the Great Britain team for the road race at the UCI Road World Championships, and helped lead out Mark Cavendish to victory.
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Geraint Thomas focused on track cycling for the 2012 season, competing at the Summer Olympics in London.
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Geraint Thomas teamed up with Ben Swift to take the silver medal in the madison.
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Geraint Thomas then returned to the road, winning the prologue of the Tour de Romandie.
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Geraint Thomas finished second behind Taylor Phinney in the opening time trial of the Giro d'Italia.
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Geraint Thomas acted as lead out man to Mark Cavendish in the race, helping him to three stage victories.
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Geraint Thomas finished second to Marco Pinotti in the final stage time trial in Milan.
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Geraint Thomas was selected for the team pursuit team for the Olympics, along with Steven Burke, Ed Clancy and Peter Kennaugh.
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Geraint Thomas began the 2013 season at the Tour Down Under.
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Geraint Thomas won stage 2 after attacking on the Corkscrew climb, and outsprinting three riders that had joined him on the descent.
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Geraint Thomas held the race lead until the penultimate stage, where he cracked on Old Willunga Hill and dropped to fifth overall.
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Geraint Thomas was given a leadership role in Sky's Classics campaign.
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Geraint Thomas was selected to ride the Tour de France, but crashed heavily on the opening stage.
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Geraint Thomas started the next stage but struggled, finishing second last and after returning to hospital was found to have a fractured pelvis.
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Geraint Thomas started the season at the Tour Down Under, this time riding in support of Richie Porte, and finishing eighth overall.
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Geraint Thomas recovered to take his good form into the Classics season, finishing third in E3 Harelbeke.
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Geraint Thomas led Team Sky at the Tour of Flanders and managed an eighth-place finish, 37 seconds behind the winning rider, Fabian Cancellara, having had to chase back after being dropped on the Taaienberg climb.
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Geraint Thomas was then given the freedom to go for stage wins and appeared in a number of breakaways.
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Geraint Thomas was the only Briton to finish the race, placing 22nd overall, his best ever result in the Tour de France.
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Geraint Thomas won bronze in the individual time trial behind Alex Dowsett of England and Rohan Dennis of Australia.
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Geraint Thomas won gold in the road race after attacking Scott Thwaites and Jack Bauer on the final lap of the Glasgow city centre circuit, and built up a large enough gap to survive a scare when he had to change a wheel in the closing stages.
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In February 2015 Geraint Thomas won the second stage of the Volta ao Algarve after following an attack by Rein Taaramae on the final climb of the day, before going clear and holding off the chasers on the descent to the finish, 19 seconds ahead of the Estonian and 23 seconds ahead of the peloton to take the race lead.
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Geraint Thomas defended the lead by placing third in the time trial on stage 3, and fourth on stage 4, which finished on the summit of the Alto do Malhao and was won by teammate Richie Porte.
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Geraint Thomas finished safely on the final stage to claim overall victory.
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Geraint Thomas took second place on the race's queen stage to the Col de la Croix de Chaubouret, again behind Porte.
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Geraint Thomas lost time on the penultimate stage of the race, after crashing on a wet descent, but continued and finished fifth in the overall standings.
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Geraint Thomas attacked on several occasions during the race, most significantly on the descent of the Cipressa.
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Five days later, Geraint Thomas became the first British rider to win the E3 Harelbeke, attacking from a 3-man breakaway with Zdenek Stybar and Peter Sagan in the closing stages and holding on to triumph.
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Geraint Thomas placed fifth in the concluding time trial on stage 9, missing out on overall victory by a gap of five seconds to Simon Spilak.
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At the Tour de France Geraint Thomas played a support role for Chris Froome, helping him navigate a first week featuring crosswinds, hill top finishes, cobblestones and a team time trial.
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Geraint Thomas dropped down to sixth after finishing just over half a minute behind Alberto Contador on stage 14 from Rodez to Mende.
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On stage 16, Warren Barguil lost control approaching a hairpin bend the descent of the Col de Manse and collided with Geraint Thomas, causing him to crash head first into a telegraph pole and fall into a ditch.
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However Geraint Thomas escaped serious injury, and was able to complete the stage and lost just 38 seconds to the leading group.
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Geraint Thomas subsequently moved up to fourth overall after stage 17 to Pra-Loup, when Tejay van Garderen pulled out of the race due to illness and Contador lost time due to a crash.
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In February 2016, Geraint Thomas retained his Volta ao Algarve title, after placing fifth on the decisive fifth stage behind Alberto Contador.
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On stage 6, Geraint Thomas finished second to Ilnur Zakarin on a mountain top finish at Madone d'Utelle to take the race lead by 15 seconds over Contador.
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Geraint Thomas was able to defend his lead on the final stage, with assistance from teammate Sergio Henao, after Contador repeatedly attacked and distanced Geraint Thomas on the final climb of the Col d'Eze.
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Geraint Thomas crossed the finish line in Nice 11 seconds after Contador to win the race by 4 seconds.
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In May 2016, it was reported that Geraint Thomas had signed a two-year contract extension keeping him at Sky until the end of 2018 season.
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In July 2016 Geraint Thomas was part of the Team Sky squad at the Tour de France that aided Chris Froome in securing his third Tour de France overall win.
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Geraint Thomas finished 15th overall for the second year in succession.
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Geraint Thomas crashed on the final descent, around 10 kilometres from the finish of the race, when he was near the front of the race in and with a chance of contesting the finale.
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Geraint Thomas re-mounted, and managed to finish in 11th place two and a half minutes adrift of gold medallist Greg Van Avermaet.
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Geraint Thomas received a late entry for the Olympic time trial and finished 9th.
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Geraint Thomas won the third stage of the race, taking the leader's fuchsia jersey as a result, and ultimately won by seven seconds ahead of Thibaut Pinot.
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Geraint Thomas began the Giro d'Italia strongly, finishing third on stage 4 to Mount Etna to sit second overall for the rest of the first week.
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Geraint Thomas reported his shoulder "popped out" during the crash, but he remounted to complete the stage, dropping to 17th in the standings, five minutes and 14 seconds behind Nairo Quintana.
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However, after losing further time on the next two stages, Geraint Thomas withdrew from the race with a worsening knee injury.
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Geraint Thomas held the yellow jersey until Stage 5, when he dropped to second overall behind teammate Chris Froome after finishing tenth on La Planche des Belles Filles.
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Geraint Thomas crashed out of the race on a descent on Stage 9 whilst placed second overall and suffered a broken collarbone.
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Geraint Thomas began his 2018 season in February at the Volta ao Algarve, where he won the 20.3-kilometre individual time trial on Stage 3 to increase his overall race lead.
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Geraint Thomas eventually finished third overall, again behind teammate Kwiatkowski and Damiano Caruso of BMC Racing Team.
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In June, Geraint Thomas led Team Sky at the 2018 Criterium du Dauphine in the absence of Chris Froome, who had won the Giro d'Italia a week earlier.
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Geraint Thomas crashed during the opening prologue and finished over 20 seconds down on Kwiatkowski, who won the stage.
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Team Sky won the team time trial on Stage 3 with Geraint Thomas rising to fourth overall.
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Geraint Thomas took the race lead after finishing second on Stage 5 to Valmorel and increased his lead over Adam Yates to 1 minute 29 seconds on the following stage.
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On Stage 11, with a steep finishing climb to La Rosiere, Geraint Thomas attacked from the group of favourites, including Froome, 6 kilometres from the finish and caught up with Tom Dumoulin, who had attacked on the stage's penultimate climb.
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Geraint Thomas attacked again in the final kilometre to distance Dumoulin, and he passed lone breakaway rider Mikel Nieve in sight of the finish line to take the stage win and the race leader's yellow jersey.
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On Stage 17, the first of the three Pyrenean stages, a 65-kilometre stage to the summit of the Col de Portet, Geraint Thomas extended his lead by placing third behind stage winner Nairo Quintana of Movistar Team.
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Geraint Thomas was able to consolidate his position in the yellow jersey by picking up six bonus seconds in the sprint thereby extending his lead over Dumoulin to 2 minutes, 5 seconds.
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Geraint Thomas survived a scare when his back wheel locked, but completed the time trial successfully, finishing fourteen seconds behind Dumoulin, taking a lead of 1 minute, 51 seconds into the final stage.
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Geraint Thomas held the lead all the way to Paris to become only the third ever British, first British-born and first Welsh cyclist to win the Tour de France.
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Geraint Thomas was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to cycling.
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Close behind, Bernal and Geraint Thomas led the other general classification contenders Uran, Buchmann and Kruijswijk.
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Geraint Thomas finished second to compatriot Simon Yates on the fifth stage, which finished at the Sassotetto ski resort; he ultimately finished the race in second overall, behind Yates.
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Geraint Thomas then won the Tour de Romandie on the final day, moving ahead of Michael Woods, before finishing third at the 2021 Criterium du Dauphine, winning the fifth stage.
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Geraint Thomas did finish the Tour, finishing 41st overall while riding in support of Richard Carapaz, who took the final podium place.
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Geraint Thomas finished second on the day to Remco Evenepoel, with Higuita finishing more than a minute down, which gave Geraint Thomas the overall victory.
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Geraint Thomas rode the Tour de France for the twelfth time, with Yates, Martinez and Pidcock part of the Ineos Grenadiers octet.
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Geraint Thomas proved himself to be the strongest rider in the race, except for Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, and by the Pyrenees was the only rider left within striking distance of the two.
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Geraint Thomas was one of the co-leaders for the Ineos Grenadiers at the Giro d'Italia, along with Tao Geoghegan Hart.
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Geraint Thomas moved up to second overall by the first rest day, behind only Remco Evenepoel.
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Geraint Thomas assumed the race lead following a positive COVID-19 test for Evenepoel, a lead he held for four stages, before Bruno Armirail assumed the pink jersey after the peloton lost more than twenty minutes on stage fourteen.
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Geraint Thomas retook the race lead two stages later after Armirail cracked on the final climb to Monte Bondone.
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In 2024, Geraint Thomas again targeted the Giro d'Italia, starting the race as the leader for the Ineos Grenadiers.
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Geraint Thomas finished the race third overall, 10 minutes behind race winner Tadej Pogacar.
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Welsh-speaking fans of Geraint Thomas had begun singing a version of Titw Tomos Las by Hogia'r Wyddfa, a popular Welsh-language quintet from the 1960s and 1970s.
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The song, which is about the blue tit bird emphasised Geraint Thomas's surname, spelt Tomos in Welsh.
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Geraint Thomas met his wife, Sara Elen Geraint Thomas, through a mutual friend.