The question was never whether he had the lungs or the legs. They had been proven on the track and the road countless times. The question was whether Geraint Thomas could carry his body over cobbled track and hard hills, whether he could climb into the sky and fly back down a sheer mountain face, day after day, without getting hurt. Thomas had to prove he could make it through the gruel of a three-week grand tour intact without “DNF” after his name.
Perhaps, too, there was a lingering question over his mentality. Thomas didn’t have the bravado of Bradley Wiggins, nor the steely focus of Chris Froome. On the surface, he was the easy-going Welshman who enjoyed a few beers in his downtime, not the picture of a ruthless winning machine. He was the perfect domestique, the dream team player. But could he lead a group of elite riders into the battlefield of a Tour de France?
