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words Gary Baker pictures Steve Pope
pEDal To
THE MEDal
Geraint Thomas is not the only olympian this summer the Maindy Flyers and Cardiff JIF clubs, but Thomas has served his
with a good chance of winning the first Welsh gold apprenticeship and is now reaping the rewards.
medal for more than a quarter of a century – but he is
probably the most likely to break the duck. He represented his country to win the Junior Tour of Wales, took the
Welsh Senior Championships against vastly more experienced adults
Barring disasters or injury, he will achieve that on the boards of Beijing’s when only 17, won the World Junior Track Championships Scratch
Velodrome as part of Britain’s world champion team pursuit quartet who Race gold medal in Los Angeles as an 18-year-old and took the cycling
go into the Olympics as hot favourites. classic Paris-Roubaix Junior title in 2005.
Cardiff’s Thomas is a real star in a country where track cycling has ”... a piece of steel was thrown off the road
boomed to a degree that Britain are now known as the best squad in the
world across all disciplines. into the forks of his bike...”
And in that boom the Welshman, still only 22 years of age, is standing tall But that is only half the story. Thomas was lucky to escape
and proud. with his life in 2005 after an horrific accident in Sydney where
a piece of steel was thrown off the road into the forks of his
Three day eventer Richard Meade was the last Welshman to win bike while on a training run.
Olympic gold, both individual and team, at Munich in 1972. When told
what he could achieve by Sporting Wales, Thomas replied, “I didn’t know He smashed into his handlebars as his bike, travelling
that! at considerable speed, stopped dead. So badly was
he injured that Thomas needed to have his spleen
“It would definitely be awesome to be the next Welshman to win gold at removed. His worried parents, Hywel and Hilary
the Olympics but I cannot think about that yet. Thomas, were also flown out to Australia to be at his
bedside courtesy of national governing body British
“But I am definitely getting excited about it and not worried or Cycling.
concerned at all. I am just looking forward to getting on the track and
raising the bar again from where we were in the World Championships The injury was expected to keep him out for six
this year.” months but, within six weeks, he was back - and
the world has since become his oyster.
The problem with that is that if Britain’s Team Pursuit side want to raise
the standard further, it will mean breaking the world record again. In 2006, Thomas started his Team Pursuit
career with the British squad and took silver
He added, “Since I have been with the Team Pursuit every year, we have in the World Championships and British Track
tried to get better and I think that’s the best thing about being with Championships.
them.
He won a bronze medal at the 2006 Melbourne
“If you try and maintain what you have got, you might be overtaken. Commonwealth Games in the Points Race before
Every time we go out on the track, it is about going faster. the British Team Pursuit quartet won gold at the
World Championships in 2007 and also this year
“In the worlds this year, we broke the world record by three one- in Manchester, breaking the world record in the
thousandths of a second but, afterwards, we thought we had done better process plus winning the Track World Cup on
in the lead-up to the race.” the series finale in Copenhagen.
Every year, it seems, Thomas is blossoming to the extent where he is And last year, Thomas became the first
now riding the biggest races on the planet, both road and track - and Welshman for 40 years to ride in - and then
holding his own among the continental superstars. complete - the biggest road stage race of
them all, the Tour de France.
Not bad for a youngster who was only pedalling around the Maindy
Stadium’s open air track in his home town less than ten years ago, with
sportingwales
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