Three years on from his last appearance on the Tour de France podium, a second place behind teammate Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas will be back there on Sunday evening after sealing third place behind Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
His Ineos Grenadiers team had started the Tour with Thomas as one of three GC leaders along with Dani Martínez and Adam Yates. However, with his two co-leaders falling ill at different points in the race, the British squad ended up looking solely to the Welshman to take the fight to the men who would end up occupying the top steps of the final podium.
A fourth place in the final time trial in Rocamadour sealed Thomas' third overall at 8:13 behind first-time winner Vingegaard, completing a career 'podium sweep' following his overall victory in 2018.
After stage 20, Thomas pondered how his team – or others – could get the better of Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates at future Tours.
"I think next year might be my last year anyway, so I don't really care. I'll enjoy watching," he joked in the post-stage press conference.
"Those two are just unbelievable. Tom [Pidcock] for sure has got a very bright future but it's one thing riding as he is and it's another thing to win the thing. But why not? More and more in the short term, those two are the standout guys at the moment."
Thomas said that Ineos' strategy of selecting three co-leaders would be a way to beat the duo who stood head and shoulders above the rest during the past three weeks.
"I think the best way is as we came here with a really strong lineup," he said. "Dani got sick and Yatesy is a bit sick now, so if you have three really good guys, maybe. But still Jumbo are so strong and UAE – well they say they were weak but 'Ice Berg [Mikkel Bjerg] and McNulty… Jesus. What can you do?
"So, we've definitely got our work cut out but that's the challenge and that's what gets you out of bed in the morning. If it was easy, you wouldn't bother doing it. It definitely motivates us, and I'll do everything I can to help, whether I do one or two more years."
Thomas answered questions on his future and his age during the press conference, with some having doubted before the Tour whether, at 36, he was a realistic contender to beat Pogačar.
Having built up steadily through the spring and trying out races he had rarely visited before, victory at the Tour de Suisse changed minds, even within his own team, Thomas said.
"I've got a contract to the end of next year. I may stop or may do one more. I'm still really enjoying racing and this race. It's the biggest race in the world, it's unbelievable to be a part of and to be in the mix fighting for stages and wins is what I love to do.
"But at the same time, I don't know. This year I've had a different programme doing La Flèche Wallonne for the first time and I've only done Liège-Bastogne-Liège and [Itzulia] Basque Country once before. That gave me a new lease of life as well. But never say never. We'll see.
"I think in their mind [the team] saw me as more a Sepp Kuss-sort of domestique in the mountains," Thomas added, referring to his supposed role in the Ineos squad for the Tour. "And not quite there all the time, was the impression I got. It changed slightly after Suisse but I was super happy to be able to be there in the mix."
But despite the doubts from inside and outside the team, did Thomas always believe that he could win the Tour?
"I've always believed I could," he replied. "The end of the last year was really hard for a number of reasons but once I started again it was a steady build up, which is normal for me the last few years.
"But I was confident that if I kept working hard and doing the right things that I'd be in the mix. I never tried to put a number on it in my head, like a position. It was more getting into the race as fresh as I could and racing the race.
"It's just the type of character I am. You don't just give up because something tells you that you can't do something. Deep down I knew I could still be good. I just wanted to be here in the best shape I could whether that meant being like Sepp and doing super rides in the mountains but then switching off on other days, or whether it's, as I am now, on the podium.
"I just wanted to give myself that last chance and yeah, I'm over the moon. Super, super happy to be on the podium."
