Thomas’ ride on time brings curtain down on glittering career

Instead of a six-day, 551-mile elite cycling race around the UK, laps of honor are typically a gentle stroll around a field.

When Geraint Thomas chose to live as a cyclist, you could say he was aware of what he was agreeing to.

Additionally, the public in Wales and the United Kingdom were unwilling to permit this sporting legend to end his distinguished career with a covert exit stage left.

The 39-year-old’s showpiece took him on a grand tour of the world’s largest cities, starting at the Geraint Thomas Velodrome in Newport, rolling up and down the hills he used to climb as a boy, before passing the house where he grew up, the pub where we drank our first pint, and the Maindy Flyers cycling club, where he first rode a bike competitively.

Thomas remarked, “I was emotionally crossing the line.” I was almost choking up riding my bike as I rode through Birchgrove and saw all the fans.

Then I ran into Swifty’s teammate Ben Swift, who I’ve been racing with since we were 12 years old. I couldn’t even speak when I came out to do the interviews.

“It’s undoubtedly emotional and extremely special, though. There is no better way to ride past Maindy, where it all began, than to finish here is truly unbelievable. The support I’ve received over the years is incredible.

Thomas is typically a master of dry quips and deadpan humor.

He allowed his emotions to flow a little more freely on Sunday as he conducted interviews while his five-year-old son Macs held his leg.

Thomas made up a joke about how “I wish I had tinted glasses, not the ones that allow you to still see my eyes in the rain.”

“Seeing him]Macs] and his wife Sara, that’s what makes me feel that way,” I recall. He’s already very interested in it, and I never thought I’d be going back when I was so young.

That’s really nice, and I like that he can take it all in and then enjoy and remember it, too.

Thomas has followed him everywhere, experiencing both the soaring highs and crushing lows with his family.

After picking him up after leaving Grand Tours and allowing enough injuries to make a surgeon smile, wife Sara and the rest are aware that these are the moments to cherish.

The sheer number of supporters on the course was impressive from the beginning, through its windiest, wettest, and coldest peaks on the Gwent hillsides, all the way to its finish in Cardiff City Center.

Thomas was rendered almost speechless after being blown away. However, how do you adequately summarise that tribute to a career that has spanned three decades, earned two Olympic gold medals, three world titles, a Commonwealth gold, countless other race victories, and earned cycling’s greatest prize of all, the Tour de France, in the immediate aftermath of a day’s racing?

You can’t, really, but the people who lined streets and mountaintops from Suffolk to South Wales over the past week did a good job of demonstrating what Thomas means to people.

Even though they were passionate, only a small percentage of his following were represented by the cut-out Thomas facemasks, which were a highlight.

His 2018 victory in the Tour, where thousands flocked to the Senedd and Cardiff Castle to salute this country’s hero, was the most obvious illustration of his support.

Thomas reached new heights after the Tour triumph. Being victorious at Le Tour is cycling’s most unlikely path to sporting immortality, similar to winning a World Cup, winning Wimbledon, or sporting the green jacket at the Masters.

Therefore, it only fitting that Thomas returned to Cardiff Castle in his final performance as a professional cyclist.

He entered with Macs, his niece Alys, his nephew Jac, and a group of young Maindy riders.

Another crowd of thousands greeted them at the castle, all enjoying a complimentary can of Thomas’ special beer.

After the previous rain had dried up, the sun washed down on the stage as a choir greeted him.

This was a king’s begotten return to the castle following his 2018 coronation.