'I still want to do it. I still want to perform'

Geraint Thomas is preparing for one last Tour de France and a final farewell on the streets of his native Cardiff

- Jeremy Whittle

Bike racing is all I have ever known," says Geraint Thomas of the 19-year professional career that will end this summer with one final Tour de France and a farewell appearance in the Tour of Britain.

While many of his peers are relishing a Tadej Pogacar-free Giro d'Italia that starts on Friday, the 2018 Tour winner has opted against three weeks in Italy, favouring one last ride in July's French hothouse.

Thomas's racing career was founded on success in Olympic track racing; he won team pursuit gold at Beijing 2008 and London 2012. But it developed into memorable victories on the road at the Tour de France, Paris-Nice, the Tours of Switzerland and Romandie and the Critérium du Dauphiné.

He has achieved far more than he ever expected, when, he says, as a teenager, he was "dreaming about national titles". There have been many near misses, most painfully in the 2023 Giro, when he let the race lead slip to Primoz Roglic on the penultimate day. Not for the first time, there were tears.

"It's certainly been up and down but you just remember the good times," he says. "Even the bad times are character building, by getting through them, learning from it and growing from it. It makes you stronger for sure."