'If it is my last season, I want to enjoy it and make the most of it' says Welshman
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) at the 2022 Tour Down Under pre-race press conference(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Geraint Thomas will decide in the spring if he will race on after 2023, with decisive conversations already underway with his family and Ineos Grenadiers.
The 36-year-old Welshman won the Tour de France in 2018 and has enjoyed a successful career that includes numerous stage race victories, Olympic gold on the track with Great Britain and 17 years as a professional rider.
Geraint Thomas will target the Giro d’Italia this year, with a ride at the Tour de France also possible. He is tempted to race on in 2024 and perhaps retire after the Paris Olympics but any decision will put his family first and need to be enjoyable.
“I’m not ruling out doing another year because I’m still enjoying it and let’s face it, it’s not a bad life is it?” Thomas told a small group of media at the Tour Down Under, including Cyclingnews, where he made his season debut.
“Why end things prematurely if I’m still enjoying it and still prepared to do it? If I can keep making the sacrifices, why not?”
Thomas had initially indicated he would decide on his future in December but still needs more time to consider the professional and personal aspects of what is a huge moment in every rider’s career.
Thibaut Pinot recently announced he will retire at the end of 2023 aged just 32. Richie Porte ended his career in 2022 aged 36 but Chris Froome has indicated he will race on until 2025 when he will be 40.
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Thomas will turn 37 during this year’s Giro d’Italia. He hopes to have decided his future by the time he lines up in Abruzzo on May 6 for the Grande Partenza.
“The December deadline didn’t happen and I don’t really want to put a deadline on it,” he said, keen to have the time and space to reflect and make a pondered decision.
“I would like to decide, say, by March. If it is my last season, I want to enjoy it and make the most of it. I also want to plan for the future.”
“I need to sit down with my family and talk about it all. I certainly won’t be racing in 2026. How far back we go from that, I’m not so sure. Physically everyone can race on. It’s if you lose the love for it or the pull of your family. It that’s greater, you stop. It’s an individual decision.”
Thomas was initially relegated from a Grand Tour leadership role for 2022 but then saved Ineos Grenadiers' pride and proved his critics wrong by finishing third in the Tour de France behind Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
He has raced for the Ineos Grenadiers set-up since it was created as Team Sky in 2010. He has been tempted to go elsewhere when contract negotiations were tense but he has stayed loyal to the British team. If he does race on in 2024, it will be with Ineos Grenadiers, as long as the conditions are right for Thomas and the team.
“The team is keen for me to continue and would like me to. I wouldn’t really go anywhere else,” Thomas said.
“I’m already speaking to [team manager] Rod Ellingworth. It depends on how they see my role, the salary and what’s expected of me. As long as all those boxes are ticked for me and the team, I don’t see why it won’t happen.”
A long successful career
Thomas in the peloton during the first road stage of the 2023 Tour Down Under (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Thomas has dedicated his life to cycling. He raced as a schoolboy and was part of the Great Britain under-23 academy programme after winning the Junior edition of Paris-Roubaix.
He lived in Italy when the Academy helped a generation of British riders including Mark Cavendish, Ben Swift, Luke Rowe, Alex Dowsett and Pete Kennaugh.
He won gold in the men’s team pursuit at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and again in London 2012. He also won the gold medal in the road race at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games before his transformation into a Grand Tour contender.
He admits that a major Classic would complete his palmarès but he also has nothing to prove. He has enjoyed an incredible career, becoming a sporting hero in his native Wales.
He has been based in Monte Carlo for a decade but plans to return to Wales after his career.
“You’re lucky to retire on your own terms as a sportsperson. That’d be great,” he said, still unsure of life after he hangs up his wheels.
“I’ve said I want to do an Ironman triathlon. Other than that I don’t really know,” Thomas admitted.
“One of the biggest reasons to end my career is because I want to spend more time at home with my family. We want to send my son to school in Wales and that counts.
“I’d like to stay in the sport in some capacity because that’s what I love and know. I don’t want to travel as much and be away from home as much. But I want to do lots of different things so I don’t get bored.”
Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
