Talking to Olympic Gold Medallist Geraint Thomas
Story posted September 3rd,
By Larry Hickmott
Geraint Thomas (2nd from right) with his Gold medal in Beijing. L-R, Paul Manning, Ed Clancy, Geraint and Bradley Wiggins.
With victories as a junior in the World Track Championships and classics such as Paris-Roubaix, Cardiff’s Geraint Thomas has always had a great record on both track and road. Now, the Barloworld and Great Britain rider is an Olympic champion on the track and World Record holder and life is manic like never before.
He, like the rest of the Great Britain team are getting the media and public attention they deserve but before he can really celebrate his and the team’s astonishing achievements in Beijing, he has a few prior engagements to take care of and the first of these starts this Sunday in London, the Tour of Britain.
Geraint is expected to be one of two Olympic Gold medallists in the Tour of Britain with Bradley Wiggins being the other. Bronze medallist Chris Newton also rides. Preparing for a 700 mile trip around Britain, a lap of honour even, has not been easy as he deals with calls from media and PR people wanting a slice of the Olympic champion.
“As soon as we got back it has been manic” Geraint told us on Tuesday. “I had a home coming in Cardiff on Tuesday and the phone has not stopped ringing since. Then there have been parties and events to go to, seeing media people and I've been rushed off my feet. I'm pretty nailed to be honest!”
You need an agent I then replied with to which he replied, “I’m seeing some this week!”
With such a whirlwind life right now, the winning of an Olympic Gold Medal still hasn’t sunk in Geraint explained. “We went in there to win and we did that. It was such a relief and really satisfying after all the work we put in and all the pressure and expectations from the media and public we had.”
“We went out there wanting to rip their legs off and that is what we did.”
“The time we did (a world record, the second of the year) was like the icing on the cake. We wanted to go fast but at the end of the day we just wanted to win. To do a ‘53’ was phenomenal. We knew we had it in us to scrape a 53, but to actually do it and the way we did was something we won't forget – ever!”
For me, seeing these riders do such a great time in Beijing was not a surprise. Every time I visited the team, I was hearing these splits which suggested they were capable of it. The only doubt was whether the track was as fast as Manchester and whether they could adapt to the different shaped track and do the effort over 4k. The answer was of course a resounding yes to all doubts.
Looking back at those over paced efforts in training, Geraint says “afterwards we would see it was ‘51’ pace or ‘52’ pace, which is ridiculously fast and that gave us a lot of confidence. In the future, those times are going to be something we're going to be aiming for.”
The Beijing Olympics was Geraint’s first taste of an Olympiad and asked to compare the feeling he had winning Gold there to winning Gold at World Championships which he has done many times (three), he replied “to begin with, we saw it as just another Worlds kind of thing”.
“There were the same riders we were racing against in the same teams. I think it was just the fact the media view it differently. One of my mates was saying that when I won the Worlds, everyone was ringing me but when I won the Olympics, everyone was ringing him as well just because he knows me. It’s just mad how big it is really.”
“I don't think any of us, especially me and Ed (Clancy), realised how big winning Gold was going to be perceived and how much effect it would have on everybody around us. Like how happy people would be just to meet us and get their photo with us and autographs.”
“At the Olympics, it was just like any other race and we were in this bubble of our cycling team but every time some one got on the track, they were winning a medal -- it was unbelievable. Especially when it was the Olympics where everybody from the other countries was giving it 100 per cent”.
“For us to go there and dominate like that was really outstanding and it was a great feeling to be part of that.”
What is really interesting about Geraint’s experience is that in cycling, most youngsters, at least when I was growing up, wanted to be in the Tour de France. That was the big event, bigger than the Olympics and an event to aspire to. That will of course change for many youngsters who viewed the Beijing Olympics and saw what a massive stage to perform on the Olympics is.
But Geraint has also ridden on the famous streets of Paris in the Tour de France. There he was in 2007, at the front of the Barloworld train on the most famous finishing circuit in cycling, the Champs Élysées.
“When I was growing up, I always dreamed of being at the Olympics but like all cyclists, I also dreamed of doing the Tour de France as well. They are both stuff dreams are made of and to do both of them so early in my career is really special. It keeps me motivated to keep pushing forward and the confidence that I need to get to the next level.”
Geraint Thomas suffering on Snake Pass in the Tour of Britain in 2006.
Next Stop, Tour of Britain
Geraint’s life is a right merry-go-round at the moment and the next stop is the Tour of Britain. The former Cardiff JIF rider will be heading back to where he rode the Tour de France in 2007 and he’s looking forward to seeing a big crowd turn out to see the racing. “I am definitely looking forward to racing in front of the home fans and the whole experience of doing my home Tour. I'm not however going to get carried away and think I can go for a GC spot or anything because I haven't had the time to do the training needed.”
“I have ridden my bike a bit but just ticking over. I'm going to the Tour of Britain to help out Robbie (Hunter) and Baden (Cooke) in the sprints and Steve (Cummings) for the overall. Team wise we have a really good chance of performing well so I'll be going there to enjoy that and do my job.”
Geraint is part of a very special team, one of many in the Tour of Britain but in Barloworld all the riders are special. Hunter has won stages in the Tour de France, Cooke the Green jersey in the Tour de France and Soler the King of the Mountains jersey. Then you have Cummings who has won two races in Italy this year and rode so strongly in the time trial at the Olympics.
What about Borghini I asked Geraint? “Paolo is an unbelievable rider” he replies. “I think he rides every race there is and is really strong and a great team guy.” On his Columbian teammate Soler, Geraint explained “I don’t know if the route is going to suit him but he's always good for a laugh and for morale!”
Asked what makes the Tour of Britain special, Geraint says the main difference is the crowd and the attention they get, the Brits, riding this race. And for anyone thinking the race is an easy one because its in Britain, Geraint was quick to dispel that theory saying “what with the heavy roads, and the up and down route, it is by no means an easy race.”
Geraint, second in line, on the final stage of the Tour de France in 2007.
Asked where he likes to sit in the peloton during the stages when he doesn’t have a specific role to play, Geraint replied it depends on lots of factors such as the weather. If it’s raining, he prefers to be nearer the front but if the bunch is just rolling, then he’ll try and chill and go with the flow of the bunch, moving up and down from time to time before he has to switch on and focus on a task.
To get an insight into the Barloworld team, we asked about his role as a helper for the sprints. “Robbie usually likes to do his own thing and I kind of stay near him and if he needs me I'm there. Then, about a 1k to go, that is when I try and take over and he'll follow me around and I take him to around the 500 or 300 meters to go spot and then he does his thing.”
The team though have two accomplished sprinters in Hunter and Cooke. How will that affect the mix? “Not sure” Geraint replied. “I haven't really raced with these two riders together too much but as they'll be the main two at the end, I'll probably come to the front a bit earlier for them.”
“It will depend on the route in for the sprint. Like, if there is a corner with 200 to go, its more about getting them into their position before the corner but if its a long straight, and there are some big name sprinters in there, then you may have to take them up and drop them off on the wheel of one of those sprinters.”
The Tour of Britain will not though provide a respite from the manic life he has right now. From morning to late evening, he’ll be on the go. He is however grateful that Barloworld have a big coach for the riders to travel in where he says they can get showered and lay around chilling whilst on the move.”
What next after the Tour of Britain
The burning question though was what will Geraint Thomas do after the Tour of Britain. He’s won Gold on the track and like many riders before him, ‘G’ will be looking to take a break from track competition and look to achieve on the road.
“I'll still train on the track because I live only half an hour away from the Velodrome so I’ll go over and train with the lads but I don't want the pressure of going away and racing and having the pressure of blocks of training camps on the track.”
2007, and the first of his two senior World titles in the Team Pursuit for Geraint (second from left).
His future right now though is on the road. “I have to keep racing with the team (Barloworld) until the 12th of October and then after that I'll have a bit of a break. Next year, I don't want to focus on the Worlds (track) and the World Cups but focus more on the road. I would like to have more of a traditional winter and have a decent break before starting back on the road, slowly building up for the road season and having a good crack at that.”
“I want to win some road races now, target a few prologues and things like that and hopefully ride the Tour de France again. I would like to move up a level from what I have done so far and go for a bit of glory -- take what ever opportunities arise really.”
Geraint explained it has been good to see Steve Cummings win races in Italy and see that with the right training living in Italy, that is possible. “His wins give me the confidence that its not impossible to do.”
And, I had to ask, is winning the senior version of Paris Roubaix on his ‘to do’ list? “Definitely” was the short but to the point reply!
Finally, London 2012. It is the Olympiad that everyone will be talking about for the next four years but with Geraint looking to take a break from track competition, is the track something he still has a hunger for.
“Yes, for sure. A few years before London, I'll come back and see how it goes. We are going that fast now, you can't expect to go away and then drop back in after four years away especially with riders like Burkey (Steven Burke) coming through. I am sure there will be other riders coming up from the Olympic Academy as well so that will keep me on my toes and focused on the track.
“I definitely want to come back to team pursuiting, may be the madison and the individual as well. In 2012 and London, my aim now is to go for more than the one medal.”
Thanks to Geraint for taking time to talk to us and good luck to him for the rest of the season and beyond!
Tour de France Prologue, 2007.
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Website: www.tourofbritain.co.uk
