History Made: Thomas wins 2018 Tour de France

Welshman Geraint Thomas, one of the most grounded pros you can meet, has made history, winning the 2018 Edition of the Tour de France, Alexander Kristoff won the final celebration stage – round up of reactions …

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History Made: Thomas wins 2018 Tour de France

European champion Alexander Kristoff won the conclusive stage of the 105th Tour de France on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, the second success for UAE Team Emirates after super combative Dan Martin took stage 6 in Mûr-de-Bretagne. It’s Kristoff’s third victory after two stages in 2014. Geraint Thomas claimed his first overall victory while Tom Dumoulin and Chris Froome rounded out the podium.

Pic: Getty Images

145 riders started stage 21 in Houilles. In the first kilometres covered on a slow motion, Team Sky celebrated their probable sixth overall victory in seven years. As the race entered Paris throughout the famous avenue Montaigne, the street of fashion, Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) did a lap of honour as this was his 18th and last Tour de France.

After setting this all-time record, the Frenchman decided to retire at the end of the season. Silvan Dillier (AG2R-La Mondiale), Taylor Phinney (EF), Michael Schär (BMC), Damien Gaudin (Direct Energie), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) rode away from the pack with 52km to go.

Groupama-FDJ and Bora-Hansgrohe were the most active teams in the chase. The deficit of the peloton was 40’’ with 20km to go. It was game over for the breakaway riders 6km before the end as Politt was the last man to surrender at bell lap. Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates) rode away from the peloton 2.5km before the line to force the other sprinters’ teams to spend some energy before the last rush. Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe) countered but Belgian champion Yves Lampaert (Quick Step) was the last man to try and stay away from the pack.

He was eventually swallowed with 250 metres to go, firstly by Trek-Segafredo working for stage 9 winner John Degenkolb but Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) was the fastest of the remaining sprinters while stage 18 winner Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) rounded out the stage podium. Geraint Thomas could raise his hands up in the air too as he definitely won the 105th Tour de France.
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REACTIONS

Geraint Thomas: “It is insane. I just had never gone so deep for three weeks, I didn’t know what was around the corner. The first stages gave me some confidence, and from then on I went day by day, trying to relax and not to panic, and the momentum grew up until this point. This is the highlight of my life, along with my marriage. For years I just kept working hard, waiting for things to happen, and all that work has paid off now.”

“Wales is such a small, proud nation. We put ourselves behind any Welshman who does well for him to succeed. I signed off from Twitter some days ago, just to not get distracted, and only turned it on yesterday. The amount of support I was sent over these last days of the Tour alone was overwhelming. I want to have a good night tonight and celebrate the victory with my teammates after going through so much with them. From tomorrow on, it will start to sink in.”

Pic: Getty Images

“When I rode on the Champs-Elysees for the first time in 2007, that was insane – just to finish the race and just to be a part of it,” Thomas told ITV. “To now be riding round winning it is just incredible. It’s just a whirlwind. I seem to be floating around on cloud nine. Maybe when I’m 70, sat in a corner of a pub telling some 18-year-old what I used to be, it will sink in. It’s incredible, the stuff of dreams.”

“I got into cycling because of this race. I remember running home from school to watch the end of the Tour de France and the dream was always just to be part of it and that came true back in 2007,” Thomas told the crowd during the victory ceremony. Now I’m stood here in the yellow jersey and it’s just insane. It’s incredible and it’s a dream come true.

Does he want another yellow jersey? “I’ve certainly got the taste for it,” Thomas admitted. “This year I’ve really enjoyed racing for stages and being aggressive. Racing on instinct almost. But if I do nothing for the rest of my career, I can be happy. There’s nothing holding you back. You can have ups and downs but if you believe in something, keep the faith, keep fighting. And don’t let people put you down.”

The stages that defined Thomas’ victory (Via the BBC Online)
Stage 3: Team Sky finish second in the team trial to propel Thomas up the standings to third, three seconds adrift of race leader Greg van Avermaet.

Stage 6: A tactically aware Thomas picks up two bonus seconds near the finish to move himself up to second overall.

Stage 11: Thomas attacks with 6km remaining on the final ascent to the summit finish at La Rosiere in the Alps to finish 20 seconds ahead of Dumoulin and Froome and take the race leader’s yellow jersey.

Stage 12: Another late surge sees Thomas become the first British rider to win on the fabled Alpe d’Huez as he again leaves Dumoulin and Froome in his wake to cement his position as a real threat in the race. “There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to win,” Thomas said. “I just kept following Dumoulin and Froome. Can we just go to Paris now?”

Stage 17: Into the Pyrenees and an attack in the closing few hundred metres helps Thomas finish third to put another nine seconds into Dumoulin as Froome falters on the final climb, finishing 48 seconds behind his team-mate.

Stage 19: The final stage in the mountains and Thomas follows the attacks of all his rivals before sprinting to second on the stage to pick up more bonus seconds and move two minutes five seconds clear. He has accrued 33 bonus seconds, 21 more than Dumoulin.

Stage 20: Dumoulin wins the time trial, beating Froome by one second, but Thomas finishes third on the stage to maintain a lead of one minute 51 seconds.

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Other Reactions …

Tom Dumoulin: “Before today, the Tour de France was already a success for us and it was more than we had all hoped for. To finish second here is really special and I’m genuinely really happy with the result. If someone told me that after such a hard Giro I would be on the podium at the Tour de France, I would have immediately signed for it. We came into the race really open, of course we were going for the GC but not specifically the podium so I’m super happy with the outcome and proud of what me and the team have achieved here.”

Julian Alaphilippe: “I’m speechless and immensely proud. The polka dot jersey wasn’t my goal at the beginning of the Tour but once I won a stage, I was a bit more relaxed. It worked out well. Almost every day I’ve built this King of the Mountain victory. This Tour de France is surely a turning point in my career in my relationship with the public.”

“It’s very difficult to describe how I feel today, because I have never imagined that I will ride one day on the Champs-Élysées with the polka dot jersey on my shoulders. It’s been three incredible weeks with the team and I have enjoyed many beautiful moments, from my first ever Tour de France stage victory to winning the Col du Tourmalet, which was when I began realizing that I will take this jersey home. I am so happy and grateful to this extraordinary squad for their trust, support and confidence. I will never forget this race”, an elated Julian said after collecting his trophy in front of thousands of countrymen.

Chris Froome: “It has been amazing to stand on the podium with Geraint Thomas up there. We have been teammates and friends for 10 years already. We’ve come so far together… This Tour was a whole different set of emotions for me, a completely different situation yet very rewarding. For the team it is massive to have won 6 out of the last 7 Tours de France. As for me, I think I’ve had a good run with three consecutive victories in Grand Tours. Making it to the podium here was really demanding. Now it’s time for a break: my wife is expecting our second child and I look forward to join her and enjoy that miracle together.”

Peter Sagan: “I’m very proud of my team. They’ve supported me in all my victories and they’ve supported me when I was losing, both in the good and in the bad moments. I’m very happy of being alive and wearing the green jersey in Paris. I was lucky I didn’t break anything when I crashed. My accident happened quite late in the race, so I only had to suffer thru one really hard stage. I always try to think positive, and the positive side here is I made it to Paris. I fight for the green jersey because is the only chance to stand on the podium in Paris for a rider like me.”

Pic: Getty Images

Adam Yates: “It’s something pretty special to finish any Grand Tour. This one didn’t go to plan but it’s been a good lesson and one that we can take to future races and future Tours. You can make small mistakes and they have big consequences. We just have to learn from it. We had some bad luck and I made some mistakes here and there but in the future we know and we can change things.”

Alexander Kristoff: “I’ve dreamt about this victory for many years. I’ve been close before but I’ve never managed to beat the faster guys like Greipel, Kittel and Cavendish. But today they were not here- they are out after the mountains. So today I was the fastest and I am super happy. It’s a dream come true.”

Pic: Getty Images

“I was a bit far back after the roundabout, but I was with Ferrari who led me to the front. Then I saw that Trek were giving a really good lead out and I managed to get on their wheel. I got a good start and was able to pass John (Degenkolb), but it was still far out and I had to push. Thankfully nobody managed to come close to me in the last 20m and I knew I would win. I am just so happy I was able to do it.”

Dan Martin (most combative rider of the Tour) “This is an amazing moment. What a magical place to be, with the Arc du Triumph in the background and the Champs Elysees in front of us. It’s all just starting to sink in now. It’s always special finishing the Tour, but even more so today. I have really enjoying this year’s race and I’m a bit gutted it’s over. So now I am just looking forward to next year even more.”

Pic: Getty Images

“I’m not sure if I jinxed myself before this edition by saying that my ambition was to get through without crashing and having bad luck because it happened again. That said, I race the way I race and I still think a podium is possible I just need to piece that perfect performance together. It isn’t all about bad luck, it’s about being in the right place at the right time and I think you make your own good luck a lot of the time. You learn every year you ride the Tour and I’ll take those lessons to next year because I want to end up standing on that podium on merit.”

Jack Bauer: “In my mind, stage three goes down as the most memorable day of the Tour. It was a big target of mine, we’d had a big crash the day before but we rose to the challenge and only lost by nine seconds. We were all really satisfied with that ride. In the second half of the race we were looking for stages, stacking the break and a couple of times we really came close.”

“In summary, it’s been a Tour of close calls. But it’s a measure of a good team to pick yourself up every 24hours, re-motivate, re-calibrate and start again and that is what we have been so successful in doing this year. We haven’t had a win, but you wouldn’t know that at the dinner table or in the bus. We’re happy to be here, we’re happy to be teammates and barring a win or two we’ve enjoyed our Tour de France.”

John Degenkolb: “My team worked full-gas for me, and they planned the sprint so well,” said an elated Degenkolb. “It was just perfect how we came into the last corner, and I could start the sprint from Jasper’s (Stuyven) wheel. He did an amazing leadout!”

Primoz Roglic “I’m very proud to have shown this over the past few weeks. We can look back at three beautiful weeks. The fact that I won the toughest stage of the Tour is the best feeling there is. I was a little disappointed that I had to give up my third position, but I also have to be realistic. It just couldn’t go any faster yesterday, so I’m at peace with it. As a team, we achieved the maximum, so we can certainly be proud of that.”

Steven Kruijswijk: “This is very beautiful. Reaching the finish in Paris always gives me a very special feeling. I enjoyed the past three weeks and I can be proud of my fifth place. We attacked a lot and showed ourselves as a team. We can definitely built on this towards the future.”

Stage
1 ALEXANDER KRISTOFF UAE TEAM EMIRATES
2 JOHN DEGENKOLB TREK – SEGAFREDO
3 ARNAUD DEMARE GROUPAMA – FDJ
4 EDVALD BOASSON HAGEN TEAM DIMENSION DATA
5 CHRISTOPHE LAPORTE COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS
6 MAXIMILIANO ARIEL RICHEZE QUICK – STEP FLOORS
7 SONNY COLBRELLI BAHRAIN – MERIDA
8 PETER SAGAN BORA – HANSGROHE
9 ANDREA PASQUALON WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT
10 JASPER DE BUYST LOTTO SOUDAL

FINAL OVERALL
1 GERAINT THOMAS TEAM SKY 83H 17′ 13″
2 TOM DUMOULIN TEAM SUNWEB @ 01′ 51″
3 CHRIS FROOME TEAM SKY 02′ 24″
4 PRIMOŽ ROGLIC TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO 03′ 22″
5 STEVEN KRUIJSWIJK TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO 06′ 08″
6 ROMAIN BARDET AG2R LA MONDIALE 06′ 57″
7 MIKEL LANDA MEANA MOVISTAR TEAM 07′ 37″
8 DANIEL MARTIN UAE TEAM EMIRATES 09′ 05″
9 ILNUR ZAKARIN TEAM KATUSHA ALPECIN 12′ 37″
10 NAIRO QUINTANA MOVISTAR TEAM 14′ 18″

14 ALEJANDRO VALVERDE MOVISTAR TEAM 27′ 26″
17 WARREN BARGUIL TEAM FORTUNEO – SAMSIC 37′ 06″
19 RAFAL MAJKA BORA – HANSGROHE 39′ 57″
26 BAUKE MOLLEMA TREK – SEGAFREDO + 01H 06′ 33″
27 PIERRE ROLLAND TEAM EF EDUCATION FIRST + 01H 09′ 09″
28 GREG VAN AVERMAET BMC RACING TEAM + 01H 10′ 14″
29 ADAM YATES MITCHELTON – SCOTT + 01H 17′ 35″
31 ROBERT GESINK TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO + 01H 21′ 13″
33 JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE QUICK – STEP FLOORS+ 01H 28′ 08″
71 PETER SAGAN BORA – HANSGROHE + 02H 38′ 08″
121 JACK BAUER MITCHELTON – SCOTT + 03H 39′ 02″
128 LUKE ROWE TEAM SKY + 03H 50′ 55″
129 TOM SCULLY TEAM EF EDUCATION FIRST + 03H 50′ 59″

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