Geraint Thomas on hate he and Team Sky received: 'It motivated me even more'

After a 19-year professional career, Geraint Thomas has said goodbye to the sport. It was a career full of noise, change and success. From classics specialist to Tour de France winner - who would have seen that coming? Speaking to L’Équipe, the Welshman looks back on his rise as a rider, and on the emergence of Team Sky. It proved to be a historic turning point in modern cycling.

Anyone who only followed the final ten years of Thomas’ career might hardly realize just how good he once was on the cobbles. As a junior, however, that was exactly his specialty. He won both Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne and Paris–Roubaix at junior level. As a Brit, he was something of an oddity at the time, a surprise among Belgians and Dutch riders.

In Kuurne, despite taking victory, Thomas realised he was still behind his peers in certain aspects. Cycling culture in Belgium was simply different. “I might have been winning races in Great Britain, but in Belgium everything was on another level. I remember walking into the changing room, smelling the oil, the warming creams - everything felt more professional. They had their own mechanic, or their dad did everything.”

A year later, Thomas won the junior edition of Paris–Roubaix, and he still laughs when recalling the prize he received. “I won a small chocolate cobblestone, but also my body weight in chocolate,” Thomas says. “They asked how much I weighed; I must have said 80 kilos, and the guy looked me up and down in disbelief.” Whether he actually received - and ate - all 80 kilos remains unanswered.

Thomas made his Tour de France debut in 2007. As a 21-year-old neo-pro, he lined up with the continental Barloworld squad in London. “They basically picked me because the start was there, I was the youngest (21, ed.), and it was good publicity for Barloworld. My friends came to cheer me on, wearing masks with my face on them - it even made the newspapers. It was madness. I never thought it would happen so quickly.”

At the time, no one could have predicted what kind of Grand Tour rider Thomas would become. Team Sky clearly saw something: when the British outfit was founded in 2010, Thomas was among the riders who joined immediately. It turned out to be a perfect match, as he would ride for the team right through to his retirement this year.

The team made its debut in the team time trial at the Tour of Qatar in 2010, with Thomas in the line-up. “A lot of people didn’t like us: a new team, lots of money, big talk, not from a traditional cycling country… We had rollers to warm up, and no one else did. Everyone looked at us and said: ‘Who the hell are these guys? You young lads don’t belong here.’ And then we won.”

Thomas often felt that people were against him, whether that was always true is debatable. “Sometimes I made up stories in my own head,” he admits. “In 2019, even though I hadn’t actually heard it, I thought: ‘People probably think my Tour win in 2018 was just a fluke.’ That only motivated me more.” And with results to back it up: a year after winning the Tour de France, Thomas finished second overall in Paris - behind teammate Egan Bernal.