Published: 13 January 2012
Report: Pete Maxwell

In 2011 Geraint Thomas further established himself as one of Britain’s leading cyclists alongside the likes of Brad Wiggins and Mark Cavendish. An integral part of both Team Sky and the GB Cycling Team, Thomas produced some outstanding individual performances over the past 12 months and in December he was recognised with the 2011 BOA Olympic Athlete of the Year award. In 2012 though, it’s about one thing – Olympic Gold.

“The Olympics is massive. I grew up watching it and it’s something I’ve always wanted to be a part of and winning in Beijing was amazing. The fact that this time it’s in London just makes it ten times bigger. It’s something that I really want to achieve and winning a gold medal at your home games is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

One of the leading stars in the Team Pursuit squad alongside Ed Clancy, the last few months have seen Thomas and his GB teammates in intense blocks of training for preparation ahead of the forthcoming UCI Track World Cup in February at the Olympic Velodrome (the test event for the Games). After that it’s the World Championships in Melbourne and then the Olympics next August.

Thomas is in no doubt that he and his team mates have what it takes to achieve their goals, starting with February’s event in London. “I think we know what it takes to win. We’re looking to go faster again. We’ve got a good squad and a great team spirit. There’s a lot of talk about times but I think the real test comes at London where we’re all in the same track with the same conditions and I think that’s really when we’ll see what everyone’s capable of.”

GB’s competition has intensified in recent times. Russia, Australia and New Zealand are real contenders for the top prize and recently went under the four minute barrier for the Team Pursuit. “There’s been a lot said about the Russians setting whatever time, and what New Zealand are doing but it’s easy to get carried away and set goals in training but I think if we stick our guns – we know what we’ve got to do and have confidence in the training we’re doing and we’ll build it all the way to the Olympics. But I think the test event will be the first chance we’ll get an indicator of where everyone is.”

	"We know what we’ve got to do and have confidence in the training we’re doing and we’ll build it all the way to the Olympics. "

With rivalries set to deepen over the coming months, Thomas says the team aren’t going to set themselves any particular times at this stage but will go to London in February and ride as fast as they can. “The times we’re capable of will maybe become more apparent the closer to the date when the training kicks in and we’ll make a decision going into it. Maybe even as soon as a couple of days before so we’ll see where we are at the time.”

Since Beijing, Thomas has enjoyed time away from the track to focus on the road and in his second season with Team Sky, he became a prominent member of the squad with impressive performances at the one day spring classics and at the Tour de France, where he formed a formidable partnership with Edvald Boasen-Hagen, and playing a major role in helping the team get their first wins ever in cycling’s grandest tour.

“Yeah it was great (forming a strong partnership with Edvald). We were rooming together as well but the whole team just stepped up and took responsibility when we lost Brad because we all knew we weren’t going to do anything on GC (General classification) so we weren’t going to put all our energies into that. It was more that everyone had a chance to get up the road and do their own thing. It pulled us all together and we managed to respond to that really well.”

Despite focusing on the Olympics in 2012, Thomas will ride the Giro d’Italia in May and is confident Team Sky can continue to work towards becoming the number one team in the world.

“Yeah definitely, I think so. With Cav (Mark Cavendish) and Bernie (Bernhard Eisel) that boosts the team straight away. He’s going to bring wins to the table and that will be massive for everybody and success breeds success and that showed last year. So with Cav winning, it will definitely push everyone forward. It’s a massive squad of 28 riders who are either capable of winning races or backing that up, so the competition for places is even more fierce. So it can only push the team forward and provide the key to improving. It’s exciting times ahead.”

Thomas’ highlight of the year though was Mark Cavendish’s win in Copenhagen at the Road World Championships. Something he describes as ‘incredible to be part of’.

“It went better than any of us dreamed of really you know. I think it just showed the strength and depth of British Cycling now and there were a few guys that got left at home who could have stepped into that squad and as you say we’re all on the same wavelength. It was only Cav and Dave who weren’t part of Sky then but the rest of us were and it just shows we all knew what we had to do. We had the confidence and trust in Cav that if we put him in the right place and came out that corner with 200m he’d be really hard to beat. And he showed his class. It was just an unbelievable day and I don’t think there’ll be one like it again to be honest.”

After such a successful year, the future is bright for Thomas. In another 12 months time, focus will likely shift to the road again where it’s been mooted he could compete for the general classification at the major tours. Fast forward the clock as far as August 3^rd 2012 though and at around 19.30 he could have doubled his weight in Gold. That for now is all that matters.