Determined Thomas starts his final Tour

The 39-year-old Welshman is the oldest rider at this year's Tour - can he bow out with a stage win?

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Eighteen years after being the youngest rider in his maiden Tour de France, last week Geraint Thomas began the race for the 14th and final time as the oldest rider.

The Ineos Grenadiers 39-year-old is targeting a stage victory in his last ever Tour, while also aiming to help teammate Carlos Rodríguez's general classification ambitions.

“I'd love to be competitive and go for a stage – a stage win would be amazing,” Thomas said before the race started.

“Then obviously being alongside Carlos deep into the mountains and helping him as much as I can off the bike as much as on it. He's the main man so we'll see what he can do and how far he can hang in there. I'll try to be with him as long as possible.

“But there's also no point in me losing time for the sake of it, so as the race goes along and I can find my feet, we'll see what we can do. I'm confident I'm in decent shape and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in.”