Geraint Thomas a future Tour winner says Boardman

Chris Boardman has tipped Geraint Thomas as a potential Tour de France winner.

A Wales Online report quotes Boardman singing Thomas’s praises and predicting he could be a real contender as he matures and gets stronger.

Boardman said, “Geraint is just like Bradley, who first came to the Tour de France to try and win the prologue then wound up becoming a general classification rider. He is tactically fantastic, technically excellent on those cobble stages, a really fast rider. Geraint’s time trialling was great as well. He has only got to add climbing to that.”

Thomas was the second best of the seven British finishers in this year’s Tour.
The 24-year-old wore the white jersey and was second overall in the race for a number of days after finishing runner-up to Thor Hushovd in the third stage between Wanze and Arenberg Porte du Hainaut.

Although it was only the third Grand Tour – at 21, he was the youngest competitor in the 2007 Tour de France and rode the Giro D’Italia the following year – Thomas was within 20 seconds of the leader’s yellow jersey before the first mountain challenge despite having to perform domestique duties for Sky team mates Wiggins and Edvald Boasson Hagen.

Thomas was fifth in the opening prologue time trial, and 10th in the final stage against the clock, finishing ahead of Alberto Contador and all the other general classification contenders apart from Wiggins.

The only time Thomas couldn’t stay with the pace was when the favourites put the hammer down on the Alpine passes of the Alps and Pyrenees.

But Boardman believes Thomas has a big enough “engine” to be able to keep up with them as he matures and gets stronger.

For Thomas, the highlight was finishing second to Hushovd on the stage three cobbles. He said, “It was a real big important stage and to be up there in the front group with world and Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara, who’s a bit of a legend in the sport, the world road champion Cadel Evans and then Thor, who’s won loads of stages on the Tour, was unbelievable. It was just a great day and something I will remember for a long time."