If we all work together we can make sure Geraint won't retire until he's 50

Inner demons provide the best pep talks, suggests the Doc

- Michael Hutchinson

I have often had reason to question what goes on inside the head of my friend Bernard. For instance, I strongly suspect that the only reason he's ever made any progress at all in the world of bike riding is that when he was about four-years old someone told him he'd never be able to ride a bike without stabilisers and he did it just to prove them wrong. And everything that he's done since would just be follow-through.

Once, collecting an uncharacteristic "win" at the end of a chaingang, he messaged to say, "You told me I'd never win a chaingang sprint!"

I told him that I'd never said any such thing. And I hadn't. It was totally unnecessary to say anything quite that obvious out loud. But I was, as ever, only too happy to have helped.

Putting yourself through hell to prove people wrong has quite a history. Greg Van Avermaet put his 2016 Olympic title down to a need to get one back at everyone who said the course was too hard for him. And most of what Geraint Thomas has done since 2019 has been about disproving people who said he just got lucky when he won the Tour.

This sort of thing is a source of motivation much favoured by the more middle-aged demographic. I suspect that without an instinct for vengeance there would be no pro bike riders over the age of 30. If you want to know why pros retire later and later, look no further than social media. If we all work together we can make sure Geraint's inner demons won't let him retire till he's 50.