Thomas The Flank Engine Ready For His Screen Test

Geraint Thomas had to badger his Dad to upgrade the family television so he could follow cycling’s top races as a kid.

Now the Cardiff-born rider is hoping to dominate that same screen when he launches his Giro d’Italia bid in Sardinia on Friday.

This will be his 11th Grand Tour but instead of playing the loyal support rider – once memorably described as Thomas the Flank Engine – he will be the main man.

“When I first started watching the Tour I had to convince my Dad to get Eurosport first as we just had a standard tv,” said Thomas, 30, one of many top Welsh riders who started off at Maindy Flyers.

“I watched the Tour and the classics and just fell in love with the racing and tactics and just dreamt of winning the Tour as a kid.

“Then when I was a junior and in the under23s I never thought or dreamt of winning the Tour, it was more a case of just trying to be in those races and being competitive at some sort of level.

“To finally be leading the Giro team with Mikel Landa with a team like Sky which has had all these successes it is just unbelievable really.

“It is strange to be leading the team, but at the same time it is kind of normal as well.

“You are doing all these races week in week out and I just remember as a kid you had to be fascinated by them.

“You have to pinch yourself, it has been some journey to get here.”

Thomas’ best Grand Tour finish is 15th in France – in 2015 and 2016 – where he has helped Froome to his three Yellow Jerseys in the past four years.

The Monaco-based rider has already been earmarked to be at Froome’s side in Dusseldorf on July 1 when Le Tour kicks-off as long as he comes out of the Giro in decent shape and unhurt.

But the next three weeks in Italy – with the first few days in Sardinia and Sicily – will be crucial for the remainder of the double Olympic champs career.

The Giro will either elevate him into Grand Tour contender status or indicate that his next few years will take a different direction maybe back towards the one-day classics and shorter stage races.

Thomas did win the Volta ao Algarve and Paris-Nice last year and the Tour of the Alps just a few weeks ago.

But a three-week Grand Tour and with the added responsibility of leading the team – albeit as co-leader with Landa – is entirely different.

And he knows he faces a real battle against the likes of defending champ Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana who is aiming for a Giro/Tour double.

Thomas, who turns 31 during the Giro, added: “The Tour of the Alps was my last race before the Giro and so to win there was obviously a boost to my morale.

“I know it’s going to be a really strong field at the Giro and it will be a tough, unpredictable race but I’m looking forward to it.

“Nibali has won…. what? Numerous Grand Tours. He’s won all three. Quintana is Quintana and won what he’s won.

“I haven’t even been in the top 10, so it’s new territory for me but it’s something I’m really looking forward to.

“It is the 100th Giro d’Italia. You kind of go into it as it’s just another Tour race against guys you’ve raced all year, but it’s not.

“The Giro is definitely different. At the Tour it’s a lot more structured and you know what you’re going to get.

“With the Giro the weather can be bad and there are a lot more variables.”

Thomas though has been backed to shine by Froome.

“People can recognise what G is capable of and just how flexible he has been as a rider fitting into so many different roles,” said Froome.

“He hasn’t always been riding for himself he has being doing a job for me a lot of the time. He is one of the under-rated riders of the peloton at the moment.

“I hope the Giro turns out the way he is planning as he deserves it. I believe in him and I think he can be right up there this year.”