'Anything can happen in cycling, especially with me'

Lawrence Ostlere traces Geraint Thomas's journey from domestique to Tour de France champion, and how he became the loveable face of Britain's doping-tainted boom

- Lawrence Ostlere

The question was never whether he had the lungs or the legs. They had been proven on the track and the road countless times.

The question was whether Geraint Thomas could carry his body over cobbled track and hard hills, whether he could climb into the sky and fly back down a sheer mountain face, day after day, without getting hurt. Thomas had to prove he could make it through the gruel of a three-week grand tour intact without “DNF” after his name.

Perhaps, too, there was a lingering question over his mentality. Thomas didn’t have the bravado of Bradley Wiggins, nor the steely focus of Chris Froome. On the surface, he was the easygoing Welshman who enjoyed a few beers in his downtime, not the picture of a ruthless winning machine. He was the perfect domestique, the dream team player. But could he lead a group of elite riders into the battlefield of a Tour de France?

In 2018, aged 32, he answered those questions emphatically. In the shape of his life, Thomas conquered a brutal Tour, while Froome faltered two months after winning the Giro d’Italia. Thomas grew into the race with a typically understated presence before grabbing hold of the yellow jersey with victory in La Rosiere on stage 11, attacking with the unmistakable punch of a potential champion.

It laid the ground for his greatest moment, victory atop the iconic Alpe d’Huez the following day. That picture, crossing the line with fists clenched while howling into the mountain air, remains perhaps the defining image of a 20-year career, the one he should have framed somewhere in his house.