"I just can’t get my head around it": Geraint Thomas overjoyed with the Tour de France coming to Wales in 2027

For the first time since 2014, the Tour de France returns to United Kingdom in 2027, spanning across the main three historical regions: Scotland, England and Wales. Then 28-year-old Geraint Thomas was still in the middle of his transition into a GC rider at that time, but still carries warm memories from then. Now retired, Thomas is buzzing that the Grande Boucle returns to his homeland, including a stage on his training roads around Cardiff.

Speaking on his podcast, Watts Occurring, Thomas said: "The Tour coming to the UK again for a start is amazing, but to come to Cardiff. That’s bonkers. That’s where we grew up, on those roads, dreaming one day of being on the Tour one day in a foreign land."

"France, all warm and sunny, and the crowds, and all these people on the climbs watching. A world away, a different planet. Fast forward 25 years, and it’s going up those same roads. I just can’t get my head around it."

Thomas hung up his bike at the end of 2025, after a successful career that spanned across nearly two whole decades. He won the Tour de France in 2018, as well as Paris-Nice, Critérium du Dauphiné, Tour de Suisse and Tour de Romandie. The all-rounder who turned into a GC rider in his early thirties went on to podium the Giro in 2023, and lose to teammate Egan Bernal at Tour one year after his own triumph. And then one more time in 2022.

Of course, racing the Tour de France on home roads would've been a much greater farewell than "just" the Tour of Britain, but the Welshman has no regrets about his decision to stop now.

"We got a bit of a heads up a bit earlier, when we knew it was in the pipeline," he explained. "Even when I was still racing I was like ‘that would be so good to do’ but it was just so far away, there was no chance I’m hanging on until that."

"I was at the press conference for it, as an ambassador for it. I was there with the First Minister and [Christian] Prudhomme, and that was a bit strange as well. I’ve definitely crossed over to the other side now, I’m no longer an athlete any more," says the new team manager of Ineos Grenadiers.

Still, many of the British teams' riders can look forward to home crowds, in particular newcomer Oscar Onley who grew up some 2 hours on bike from Edinburgh, the scene of 2027 Grand Départ, and also fellow Welshman Joshua Tarling. But every Brit nominated will look forward to the event equally, Thomas knows from experience:

"For me with Ineos, obviously it’s a British team," he said. "It’s massive for the team. When it started in Yorkshire, just being British, being in Sky, that was huge as well. As long as people don’t feel overawed by it, I think it’s just something you’ve got to enjoy and laugh. Beforehand it’s great as well, it’s ramped up, whenever the Tour leaves France. It’s always extra special. When it was Copenhagen, that was mental."