A Heroes Welcome
Under a decade ago we’d never seen a British Winner of the Tour de France. Team Sky now have six yellow jerseys with three British Riders under their belt.
I was only interested in one-day races, such as the Spring Classics, World Champs, Monuments, etc. Of course, I had an interest in the Grand Tours (what cyclist doesn’t?), but I didn’t feel the same burning passion as say… The Tour of Flanders (no talk of De Ronde for a least a week, I promise).
That all changed after visiting the Tour with Alludens for Stage 10-12. Watching Geraint Thomas (one of my all-time heroes) take Alpe d’Huez in the yellow jersey has given me Tour fever.
On the morning of Stage 12 we cycled up d’Huez, there was a mass of Welsh fans on one of the hairpins, proudly flying 'Super G' banners and the red dragon, it was nicknamed... ‘the G spot’ (and yes, it was an orgasmic stage).
Nothing worth fighting for is going to be easy. ‘Inspiring’ is an overused term, but next time you tell yourself “I’m not good enough”, just look at G’s journey to the top, you’ll feel like anything is possible. In the words of Brian Holm: "If you quit today you will quit rest of your life and last thing you want to be is a quitter or a dogshit, cos whatever you do, you can never polish a dogshit or a quitter."
This video by GCN sums up G's journey nicely.
A Heroes Welcome
Monday 30th of July (the day after the Champs-Elysées): After an all-nighter celebrating, the boys are on their way to Sky to say thank you for our support (as key sponsors) and continue the celebrations.
Sky prepared a Welsh choir to sing 'Bread of Heaven' as G and the team arrived, the Maindy Flyers (G's old youth team) came all the way from Cardiff to welcome him, we had a stage built outside, and a large screen to host the event. Geraint Thomas, Luke Rowe, Egan Bernal and Jonathan Castroviejo received a heroes welcome.
"Gareth, you have been nominated to receive an award from G, as one of Sky's Cycling Champions." OMFG. I was invited on stage to collect my prize from the man himself.
G, It was an absolute honour.
The man from Wales 🏴 with a whale 🐋 on his back - the prize was a signed Team Sky x Sky Ocean Rescue jersey, that will hang proudly on my wall. It was great to see Team Sky flying the Sky Ocean Rescue flag during the tour (a Sky-led campaign to reduce the consumption of single-use plastics and improve ocean health), thanks for spreading the word.
Luke Rowe is the best Road Captain Britain has seen since David Millar, he is fiercely loyal and can dig deeper working for a friend than for his own success. You could sense how proud he was to Captain and support his best mate to win the Tour. Egan was sensational on the climbs, looking after Froomie and G, and Jonathan has certainly proved to be a great new signing.
The boys are off to Belgium for a crit race, that'll sober them up. 🇧🇪
Thanks for the visit, see you next year?
Gareth.
