29.06.14 - National Road Race Championship - Geraint Thomas at the startling © Huw Evans Picture Agency

Geraint Thomas To Win Tour de France

Geraint Thomas will become the first Welshman to win the Tour de France when he crosses the finish line in Paris on Sunday.

His place in the history books was assured with a stunning performance in a time trial on Saturday, when he retained the leader’s yellow jersey.

Tradition dictates that the wearer is given a free run to the French capital in a celebratory procession.

The Cardiff rider has been inundated with congratulations from Wales.

He will become the third Briton to win the Tour de France, after Sir Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and Sky team mate Chris Froome.

Buildings – including castles and the City Hall in the Welsh capital – were lit up in yellow overnight to mark the occasion.

The First Minister Carwyn Jones described Thomas’s success as a “fantastic achievement”.”Wales will be cheering you on as you head to the finish,” he tweeted.

Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns described the 32-year-old as an inspirational role model, adding: “His grit and determination over the last few weeks demonstrates how much he wants to win this epic race.

“Geraint is a brilliant ambassador for the sport, for Wales and thoroughly deserves his place in history – llongyfarchiadau mawr.”

Geraint Howell Thomas, MBE(born 25 May 1986) is a Welsh professional racing cyclist who rides for the UCI WorldTeam Team Sky, Wales and Great Britain.

Thomas has enjoyed success both on the track and on the road. On the track he was a specialist in the team pursuit. He won three world championships and was Olympic gold medalist twice, in 2008 and 2012. Thomas had an early success on the road at the 2004 Paris–Roubaix Juniors and later had senior victories at the 2010 British National Road Race Championships, the 2014 Commonwealth Games road race and his first classic, the 2015 E3 Harelbeke. He has also had a number of stage race overall victories; including the 2011 and 2014 Bayern-Rundfahrt, the 2016 Paris–Nice, the 2017 Tour of the Alps and the 2018 Critérium du Dauphiné.

Thomas won the first stage of 2017 Tour de France, an individual time trial, to become the first Welshman, and only the eighth cyclist from the United Kingdom, to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. On stage 9, when placed second overall, he crashed on a descent and broke his collarbone, forcing him to withdraw from the race.