Geraint Thomas

geraint thomasGeraint Thomas professional road and track cyclist born in Wales.

Geraint was born in Birchgrove, Cardiff. From an early age he became interested in cycling. As a junior he rode for 'Mandy Fliers' and won national titles at 14 and 16.

2004 was a breakthrough year for Geraint. He won the junior world title (in scratch race) and the junior Paris-Roubaix, this gave him the confidence and belief to try and make it as a professional cyclist.

These results helped get him a place on the British Olympic academy for under 23 riders. He made good progress in the individual pursuit and despite a serious injury in 2007, recovered to become a key team member in the team pursuit.

At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Geraint won a gold medal as part of the British four man team pursuit. The British team also set a new world record for the team pursuit of 3.53:314

In October 2009, Geraint Thomas set the fastest time (since the banning of superman position) for the individual pursuit with a time of 4:15.015 minutes at the Manchester Velodrome during a world cup meeting. Unfortunately for Geraint, the UCI decided to abolish the 4KM individual pursuit for the London Olympics. However, post 2008, Thomas was increasingly putting his focus on the road.

Road Career

2006 - Recycling.co.uk

2007 - 09 Barloworld

2010 - Team Sky Profesional cycling team

After a successful domestic season in 2006, he gained a short contract with Saunier Duval-Prodir as a stagiare at the end of 2006. This led to a full professional contract with the South African team - Barloworld. In 2007, Thomas was chosen for the Tour de France, where he was the youngest rider. He became the first Welsh rider to finish the tour since 1967.

In 2008, he rode the Giro d'Italia before being allowed to concentrate on the Olympic games preparation.

Thomas' Olympic exploits helped him to be awarded an MBE in the 2009 New Years honours list.

In 2010, he signed for Team Sky and made a strong impression during the 2010 Tour De France. He finished in fifth place on the Prologue time trial. During a cobbled stage, Thomas survived a split and came within 20 seconds of gaining the race lead. He wore the white jersey for best young rider for four days. In 2010 he also won the British road race title.

In 2011, Thomas won his first major stage race the Bayern-Rundfahrt in Germany.

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