Chris Froome has described Geraint Thomas' retirement announcement as a sign of "the end of an era", with many of the stars from British Cycling's golden generation of the 2010s either already ending or coming close to the end of their careers.
Geraint Thomas, 38, and Froome, 39, won five Tours de France between them in the 2013-2018 period and were key parts of Team Sky and Britain's rise to the top of cycling, alongside the likes of Bradley Wiggins, who won the 2012 Tour, and Mark Cavendish.
The British pair both came to Sky in 2010 after starting their professional careers at the Barloworld team and famously battled as teammates for victory at the 2018 Tour, where the Welshman Thomas came out on top and Froome finished third.
"It's certainly coming to the end of an era, with a fair few guys from my generation stopping," Froome told Cyclingnews of his former teammate, speaking ahead of stage 3 at the UAE Tour.
"He's had an amazing career I think, during a huge period of British cycling as well."
Stage 2 winner in the UAE, Josh Tarling, also reacted positively to Thomas' announcement, adding that his fellow Welshman is "more of a friend" than just a teammate. They've coincidentally never raced together, which Tarling is hoping to rectify this season.
"I mean my first my first camp, I roomed with him, and he put that tweet up of my organization skills," said Tarling with a smile. "I'm gonna miss him. I think he's such a nice guy on and off the bike.
"To be honest, I don't like speaking too much about cycling with him, because he's more of a friend, you know. But I haven't actually done a race with him yet, but from what I heard, he's class, to work for and ride with."
Froome and Thomas were part of the best Grand Tour racing year in British history during that 2018 season when all three winners of cycling's big three-week races came from the same nation. Froome won the Giro d'Italia, Thomas the Tour and Simon Yates claimed the Vuelta a España.
However, the experienced Brit thinks that Great Britain as a nation is a long way from repeating its heydays in the 2010s.
"We've had so much success over the years and there's a lot of young talent coming through," Froome said. "But it might still be a while until we see another Grand Tour winner."
Despite Thomas confirming that 2025 would be his final season as a professional, Froome has been open about wanting to extend his career past this year, even though it is the last on his contract at Israel-Premier Tech, with the hunger just the same as it was 15 years ago.
"I'm very much still enjoying it. Still feel extremely grateful to be doing what I love, that's the biggest sentiment I have really and just make the most of what could potentially be my final season," Froome said.
Froome wants to get back to a Grand Tour this season, with his last appearance at one being at the 2022 Vuelta. He's been well away from the form to get selected ever since his near-career-ending crash at the Dauphiné but with the end approaching, Froome is still prepared to give everything.
"There's no easy way [to get back to a Grand Tour], it's just about going through the processes, all the sacrifices that come with that, the time on training camps, and the bar is only getting higher," Froome told Cyclingnews.
"So I've just got to keep my head down, keep working hard and as I am nearing the end of my career it would be great to get back to another Grand Tour this year."
The main component of that raised bar is a certain Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who is also racing at the UAE Tour this week with Froome. As the last generation's GC star, Froome is mostly impressed by his successor's versatility and ability to perform at all races, all year round.
"It's amazing to witness what he's capable of doing. What really blows me away is really his ability in one-day races," Froome said.
"Obviously it's incredibly impressive to see what he's doing in stage races but to be able to do that and be extremely strong and winning races like Flanders, it's almost unheard of.
"It's amazing to witness that now, especially when the sport has become so specialised - to see someone who is literally almost doing everything, is pretty remarkable. "There's definitely a sentiment that when he's at the race, a lot of guys are racing for second, so we'll see today - he didn't quite have the legs in the sprint the other day to go clear and destroy everyone but today is a completely different race."
