Geraint Thomas Biography

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Geraint Thomas was born on the 25th of May in the year 1986. He is professional cyclist who races for the UCI ProTour team, Team Sky. Geraint Thomas is a Welsh cyclist and is a World Champion at multiple track cycling. He also won the gold medal at the Olympics in the event of team pursuit.

Geraint Thomas, born in Cardiff, began cycling at the Maindy Stadium with the Maindy Flyers Cycling Club. He took up this sport from the age of ten and then went to ride for other local cycling clubs such as Cardiff Just in Front and the Cycling Club Cardiff. He was pretty successful in the junior levels which included winning the National Championships and a second place at the European Championships that he realised his true potential as a racing cyclist. Geraint Thomas then went on to become a member of the British Cycling’s Olympic Academy. He also won at the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, the Carwyn James Junior Award. Geraint Thomas then started competing in World Cups all over the globe and started training hard at Sydney in Australia. It was during this period when he had a bad accident. Geraint Thomas crashed after a piece of metal got stuck in the wheels of his bicycle and he fell badly, suffering severe internal bleeding and spleen rupture. The spleen had to be eventually removed.

Geraint Thomas rode for the Recycling.co.uk for most of the 2006 season and joined Saunier Duval-Prodir towards the end of the year as a stagier. He also represented the Great Britain squad for the Tour of Britain. Geraint Thomas was one of the youngest riders at the 2007 Tour de France. He was also the only Welsh rider after Colin Lewis to race at the Tour de France. He was thus greatly supported by the Welsh fans; some even followed him throughout his race till he finished in the 140th place. The same year Geraint Thomas got nominated for the prestigious BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year award and placed third in the public vote.

In the 2008 season, Geraint Thomas did not take part in the Tour de France, choosing instead to take part at the Giro d’Italia and then focused on his preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics. On the seventeenth of August, Geraint Thomas and his Olympic team pursuit squad broke the world record during the heats and then eventually went on to win the gold medal on the main day, beating the Danes by a gap of six point seven seconds. Geraint Thomas was also a contender for the event of individual pursuit but chose to focus on team pursuit so as to not compromise on the chances of his team.

In the 2009 New Year Honours, Geraint Thomas was appointed as the Member of the Order of the British Empire. He started off the 2009 season with a bad injury. He fractured his pelvis and his nose in a very bad fall. He crashed after misjudging a turn and went straight into the safety barrier during the time trial stage. Geraint Thomas recovered well and continued to surpass people’s expectations.

The Tour de France

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For the first time in history, the 2013 Tour de France will visit the French island of Corsica. It sets off there from Porto-Vecchio on 29th June and there are a total of 21 stages. The alpine stages are expected to be particularly challenging and include a double hill climb of double of l’Alpe d’Huez. It is the 100th time the race has been run.

Keeping with centuries, Mark Cavendish, now cycling for Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step, has just won the hundredth event of his career in the Giro d’Italia. The sprinter came in 142nd place in the 2012 Tours de France and currently odds on him winning the 2013 event are 5000/1, the longest odds on anyone. There has been no official announcement of his pulling out, so if those odds are real take them while you can.

The odds on Bradley Wiggins are also very attractive at 16/1. His cause hasn’t been helped by an illness that caused him to withdraw from the Giro d’Italia, but his chances of winning the Tours de France are much better than that. It is another bet that you should grab before the odds shorten.

Hopes of Winning Tour of Flanders Collapses

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Sad news in the British cycling space- Geraint Thomas , the high profile Briton cyclist who was so eager for winning the just finished Tour of Flanders, unfortunately crashed down in the finale losing every chance of grabbing a win for Britain in the prestigious race. It was the seasoned Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara who took away the winner’s trophy in Tour de Flanders 2013.

A few days ago the Sky leader declared that it’s his dream to bag the winner’s position in Tour of Flanders and according to him he was well-suited for the monument race. “It’s massive & since 2012 Olympics it’s the very race that I have been pondering about”, stated Thomas last weekend while speaking on significance of Tour of Flanders win in his life presently. “Tour of Flanders has always been my prime target since past year & the preparations seem to pretty well”.

Tour of Flanders is one of the most eminent races which celebrated its remarkable 100th anniversary this time. The 265 kilometer race, that started on Burges outskirts headed towards Oudenaarde, featuring seventeen short climbs & seventeen cobbled sections. Till date one 1 Briton could grab the winner’s trophy in Tour of Flanders- Tom Simpson in 1961.

Thomas, who also had a fall in Milan, rode down on high-speed approach towards Oude-Kwaremont climb & in spite of fighting hard to get his way to front group, the Sky leader couldn’t answer back to attacks up & ahead finishing eventually at 41st. The Welshman is in the 5th place as per the rankings of UCI World Cup.

Edvald Hagen, another high profile rider from Team Sky who also participated in Tour of Flanders, attempted to head on to the final climb sequence strongly yet got distanced in the meantime. He finished the sprint on the 17th position.

Thomas Says Stringent Rules Are Required

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Geraint Thomas, who rides for the UCI ProTeam Team Sky said that he is positive about the outcome of the Lance Armstrong incident. He explained adding that the rules of the games will now become more stringent. The checking’s and the dope tests will become more strict and explicit, thus making it very difficult for anyone to cheat or bluff the system. He said this change will only prove more beneficial for the game as a whole.

Lance Armstrong was recently stripped of all his achievements by the Olympic board and has been declared banned from the sports arena for life. Lance shocked the entire world including his loyal fans when he confessed in ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ that he has been on performance enhancing drugs since 1999. He also added that his attitude towards winning a game had completely changed after he recovered from testicular cancer. Later he added that he wasn’t guilty in any way for what he did. After this incident, many renowned cyclists have expressed their anger and disappointment in him, and his casual attitude about the seriousness of the act has been criticised.

Thomas considers the fact that Armstrong passed the tests without anything being detected by the authorities is a big blow to the system, and that this will only lead to the strengthening of the rules. He also added that he is in favour of a much more difficult screening test as this will provide everyone with an equal chance of winning. He believes that sportspersons will now think twice before undergoing any kind of drug abuse.

Thomas recently expressed his desire to shift from track racing to road racing (sports bike racing).”I’m leaving the track behind now, hopefully permanently,” he said in Doha before stage one of the Tour of Qatar.