PRESS CONFERENCE | Geraint Thomas' final words on incredibly successful pro career

Geraint Thomas is retiring from pro cycling today in Cardiff, at home and with his family by his side. The Welshman is concluding an extremely successful career and before a celebration including thousands tonight in the Cardiff castle, the veteran has hosted a press conference where CyclingUpToDate was present to catch his every word.

Thomas spoke about the end of his career, his greatest achievements and disappointments, what will come after the end of his career and his feelings regarding his new role at INEOS Grenadiers, and several other topics in a 15-minute long back-and-forth.

Yeah, it's kind of strange. We watched a little montage on the grass tower and I feel myself already starting to choke up a bit. Max and Sar, my wife, met us on the way in to be over there. Yeah, it was nice, but it was sort of surreal. I think by most stages this week I've kind of forgot that I have to do a bike race. It's almost like a celebration before the start and then you get going and you're like, Jesus, you've got the races to do now. Yeah, it's definitely going to be emotional, I think, coming into Cardiff.

Yeah, I think so, but the legs aren't exactly sprinkling with water. I've got a bit of an earlier job and, like yesterday, I get to enjoy the ride up. I enjoyed the tumble, obviously, and now I've got the Caerphily mountain. I think it's going to be a great atmosphere there, it always is. So I'll drop into that and then enjoy that, really, and then ride down into Cardiff, which is so surreal because I've never done that ride so many times, straight down. That's a few meters from my parents have.

So, yeah, an unbelievable way to finish. I just want to thank Rod and the organizers, really, for making this happen. Yeah, we didn't have to do it. This weekend has been an amazing way to cap it all off.

Not at all, not at all. When you're a kid, you always have a dream of this and that, and just be a part of the big things. Obviously, there's bits of grand tours and stuff, but the career and the longevity I definitely didn't expect, and that's definitely not just down to myself, but family, and I think this team as well has been a massive part of my life. I've got some really good friends and mates there, and that's also key to why I've had such a long career, I feel.

Yeah, I still don't know anything about that, nobody wants to tell me anything, I'll just turn up and say a few words. But yeah, that'll be special as well, just to say thanks to everyone, because the support I've had over the years has just been insane, and it just means so much. So, yeah, that'll be a nice little event to do, and then a few beers with the boys afterwards.

Yeah, it's... It's weird, it's special, you know? Luke came past me today and I was like, you should have brought me on, you know what I mean? No, it's just... It's weird, you know? I think the support I've had off a lot of the guys in the peloton has also been really nice. Some guys I haven't even raced with on the same team, but have messaged me this week or last week before I started, and that's nice as well, you know, people are your competitors when they send you a nice message.

Yeah, I think I feel really lucky. I kind of feel like I've been lucky my whole career, really, with how things have panned out, being able to get my prime for Home Olympics. You know, the years I've had, and finishing here and deciding to stop this year and then have this weekend, the fact that it's Britain in September and I can do it as my last race, it's all kind of aligned and it's unbelievable, really, and I never expected that at all, really.

Yeah, it's the stuff of dreams, really. But it's kind of strange, this finishing, because I've been in my life since I was a junior, you know, you're always thinking of the next race, you're always working towards something, so not to have that tomorrow morning would be strange, but it's the right time, for sure, I definitely don't regret that, but it doesn't take away that it's weird.

I was pretty sore, actually, in the legs. I was rooming with Swifty (Ben Swift, ed.). Yeah, it was strange, but it was also exciting. It was a bit like, oh, it'll be a special day, so special, but very emotional.

It's a strange one, like I say, we kind of forget about bike race. It's all the boys and the staff, and saying nice things, and signing stuff, and obviously all the fans and things, it's incredible. It's hard to focus on the race, really, but once you get going, get a caffeine gel down, and have the radio going, and you've got to move up and have the boys, and it's all right. It just feels so surreal. I went and saw Max jump on the bus many hours ago. The whole routine I've had for 19 years is just out the window, because you're so set in your ways about doing things, and you find comfort in that routine, really. So, yeah, it's totally different, but that's what makes it really special.

Yeah, I guess it all has to come to an end at some point. I think when I started in 2008, it was really that cycling boom, and it was like that. I don't know if I'm right, but I think I'm one of the last guys that was part of that. So it is an end of that sort of generation, but it's definitely not the end. British Cycling is still super strong, with Cat Ferguson, and Matthew Brennan, who's here, and Oscar [Onley], and Sam Watson, and [Joshua] Tarling, and all these guys. So it's definitely by no means any less off.

Yeah, that's not ideal. It would have been nice to have had at least dry weather, but yeah, as you say, it's typical Cardiff weather, isn't it? So hopefully it's dry for the finish, or at least not raining in the castle, so people can enjoy it a bit more.T

Honestly, I don't think there really is much, because even the lows, you learn a lot from that, and you get stronger from it. Coming back from injuries and things, you feel like it makes you more mentally strong, and more robust. But the one race where it's like, you know, any race in Italy, to be honest, with Giro or Tirreno, it was so close to them, it would have been nice if we'd got there more. Or the Rio Olympics was crashing on the last corner, about 10km to go, it was in fact for a medal.

But highs and lows, isn't it? That's life. You don't always get what you deserve. Yeah, ups and downs, but it's how you come back from those downs, and that's the one thing I'm just as proud of, really, is how I came back from a lot of turmoil. It sounds a bit... It wasn't that bad, you know, but it's still... When it's your life, it feels like the end of the world. But to come back from the downs is just as important as those wins.

I don't know, I think maybe battling through those hard times. Like the first Tour, just getting through that, or some of the days just suffering around Trentino, or Tour de Alpes now. I didn't know at the time, but I had a fractured scaphoid from a crash in Tirreno, and I was just battling around that race, and just, you know, the stuff that people don't see. And, you know, the training. When you're at home, when you're in all those training camps, you know, just me and Froome, we come all the way to South Africa for altitude, and it's down for 10 days, and it's clear just like there, just working hard. Yeah, I think it's, I think with any sports person really, you see the end product in it.

You know, and then someone like Pog, for instance, just makes it look easy, and we're like, yeah, you know, it's easy for him. But you don't see everything it takes to get to that, all the commitment and time away. And so, it's not really one thing, it's just that whole, that whole package really.

Yeah, it's unbelievable. You know, I was sat here in this velodrome, I remember coming here in 2004 with the Olympics. Guys were preparing for Athens, I think it was, and now the whole race is starting here, because this velodrome turned up for me. Yeah, it's just full circle, to finish in Cardiff is amazing, and it's 2k to my house from the finish line, and no better way to finish.

Yeah, obviously because I've lived away for the last 13 years, or even more really, but you don't really see it, and when you come back, it's like, it is crazy, like the homecoming, after winning the Tour, just these 4,500 tickets going for the castle... It's just like, it can be embarrassing, but they all went so quickly, and so, yes, I don't think you really, well I don't anyway, you don't realize how much of an impact you have really, and I just think back when I was, we used to have racing where the senior riders from British Cycling would come down, these sort of guys, and getting their autographs, and being so chuffed with it, and it's mad to think that people are like that with me really. But yeah, it's amazing, and I think the sport is, like I said before, hopefully can just continue to grow now.

Yeah, that's the weird thing, I think, you know, come Christmas, I won't to have that in the back of my head all the time. I'm going to go skiing in January, which will be nice, first time ever. But, next thing, I'm obviously talking to the team about, you know, it's kind of, job description so to speak is pretty much done, and it'll be a bit of a new role, so it's kind of just find my feet for that, how that works really, and just learning, because obviously, as a rider, I definitely got a lot of knowledge, I feel like I can help out the boys a lot.

But then also, there's a lot of other stuff behind the scenes that as riders you don't really see, I think it'll be more like taking that in as well, and learning that. yeah, that's on the cards, it's not definitely happening at the moment. But, I'd love to continue with the team, I think, I've got a lot to give. But then, the other side, just having the freedom to just do other things, you know, do different sports, maybe some triathlons, or a bit of paddle, or whatever it is, it seems to be popping out. Give that a go, a bit of golf or something, or just do stuff like skiing, you know, that I've put off for 20 years. So, yeah, that freedom also feels nice.

I think I'll definitely still ride, you know, I still enjoy riding my bike, just won't be pressing lap, and doing efforts and stuff. But, you know, down in Monaco, Busky's still there, and quite a few boys, Eddie Dunbar and that, so, still head out with them when they're on a bit more of an easy ride. But, yeah, just enjoy it without the pressure and that thought in the back of your mind, oh I need to start losing weight now, I need to do this and that, but it's going to be weird, like I say, that routine will just be gone, you know, so, it'll be nice for a month or two, but I think if I don't get into some sort of structure, I think that's my life, you know, without even knowing it.

I've never been to prison, I don't know what it's like, but you kind of get, you know, you're just used to that sort of way of every day, a certain running order of it, so, I guess it could be quite like that.

Well, I mean the routine, I don't mean like, yeah, it's not that strict. But, yeah, it's, the data and everything and the way teams work and it's a lot more, everything's looked at and it's good for sure, you know, it's just evolving and it's the way forward, but I think it also, you still need a bit of art to it, you know, it's not just a science, you need a bit of that old school, like, just feeling, not just being told how you feel because of an app or something. You know, or, yeah, like if you're hungry, just have some more pasta just because your app said something else, you know, so, but, yeah, I'm lucky to have experienced a lot of different things as well, you know, the track, all the different races on the road and being in those two different eras of, you know, in British cycling, we were always about, you know, looking at every angle and stuff, so it's not like I'm against that, but, it's gone pretty extreme now, but, yeah, experience it all.