Geraint Thomas has announced he will retire from cycling at the end of the season.
The 38-year-old announced on Monday morning he will be bringing the curtain down on a successful 19-year professional career, with British Cycling saying September’s Tour of Britain will be his final race.
Thomas claimed Olympic team pursuit gold on the track at both Beijing 2008 and London 2012 before going on to win the Tour de France in 2018, becoming the third Briton and only Welshman to win road cycling’s biggest race.
“This year will be my final year racing my bike,” Thomas told his podcast, Geraint Thomas Cycling Club. “It’s weird, it’s always been in the back of my mind, the last four years I thought it’d be my last, but it’s official, this will be my last year.
“When you say it out loud, it’s like, ‘blimey, in seven to eight months, it’ll be done’. You can’t do it forever; I’m getting a few grey hairs. I don’t want to do one too many. I don’t want to be the guy on the bus who is a bit of a grumpy person.
“I’m still really enjoying riding my bike, and racing, the training and getting fitter, that’s what I’ve loved since I was 12. Going faster and longer, that hasn’t changed or dwindled, as the years go by, but I don’t want to get to the stage where I’m like, ‘I should’ve stopped last year, I don’t want to be here anymore’.
“The main thing is the family, Macs (his son) will be six this year, which is bonkers. I’m glad I kept going this long that he’s enjoyed coming to races and will remember it. When I won the Tour, Macs was born a year later, I thought it’d be cool for him to be around then. Never would’ve thought I’d be on a Grand Tour podium three times after that.
“This is my 19th season, which is a long time, I’ve mixed it up and kept variety, which helps, riding the track to start with. Could you do an extra year? Commonwealth Games next year? They are just on the track though, there’s no road. The timing is right.”
Thomas (right) defended Team GB’s team pursuit gold at London 2012 alongside Ed Clancy (left), Steven Burke (second left) and Peter Kennaugh
Thomas, who represented Great Britain at four Olympic Games, was part of the quartet who won the team pursuit gold at the 2008 games in Beijing and helped defend the title four years later at London 2012.
In three Commonwealth Games appearances representing Wales, Thomas secured bronze in the road time-trial before winning gold in the road race at Glasgow 2014, as well as taking bronze in the men’s points race in 2006 and bronze in the road time-trial in 2022.
Thomas won the Tour de France in 2018
Thomas’ career-defining moment was his impeccable Tour de France win in 2018 which saw him become the third British and only Welsh cyclist to win the Tour de France.
He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours List for services to cycling.
