Book review: "The Tour According to G," by Geraint Thomas

A journey is best measured in friends, not miles.

-- Tim Cahill

Life is like riding a bicycle, in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.

-- Albert Einstein

When Geraint Thomas, or 'G', as he is affectionately known throughout the peloton, won the Tour de France in 2018, it came both as a surprise, and a quiet affirmation. Surprise, because the build-up to the race had focussed solely on his teammate Chris Froome, four time Tour winner and the de facto leader for Team Sky; and an affirmation of G's talent. In hindsight, the viewers were left asking - what took him so long? For G was riding, nay flying, on slopes that the other 175 riders were straining to keep up. "The Tour According to G," is a first-person chronicle of the three brutal weeks that culminated with him donning the titular jersey, the most prestigious prize in the world of professional cycling.

Perhaps sharing the same luck of the draw as his once roommate and sprinter Mark Cavendish, G had become synonymous with 'crashing' out of important races. He was always thought of as the rider 'who could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.' G begins this book laying out his mental struggle prior to the Tour. With the shadows of his past failures at the Grand Tours looming large, in June 2018, he competed, and won, the Criterium du Dauphine, a multi-stage race often hailed as the curtain raiser for the main event in July. Froome had missed out on the Dauphine because he had won the Giro d'Italia in May. The win gave G's confidence a boost, but the Tour could only have one leader. 

In perhaps the most revealing part of this narrative, G gives the reader a glimpse into the decision-making process at Team Sky -- he is promised an equal shot at the Tour, only to have his support taken away at the last moment by higher management in the Team. If it was any other rider, if it was any other human, this situation could have easily turned nasty. It speaks volumes about G's innate nature as a team-player, friend and consummate professional, that he took this setback in his stride, and focused on the one thing he could control - riding his bike. And so he did.

On the podium, Tom Dumolin (left), Geraint Thomas (center, with the Welsh flag), and Chris Froome (right).

What comes next is without a doubt a most thrilling journey of ups-and-downs, metaphorically and quite, quite literally, through some of the most brutal roads around France. G describes the race in his inimitable humor - the tense first week, the nerve-wracking team time trial, the dreaded cobbles of the North, the 1-2-3 punch of the high mountains in the Alps, the deceptive calm in the second week, and the explosive finale on the mountains in the Pyrenees. Tom Fordyce, who co-wrote G's first book, does the honors this time as well.  The result is nothing short of a thrilling, pulse-pounding tale that keeps you on the edge of your seat, although you very well know the outcome in the end.

For a book that supposedly chronicles an actual professional race, there are many surprisingly emotional moments in this journey. In the cycling world,  G is well-known as a gentleman rider, and the instances of where he shares and receives compliments from his rival teams will certainly induce a smile (or more.) G offers compliments, some sincere, some tongue-in-cheek, to his fellow riders -- in Peter Sagan, he sees "perhaps the best bike handler in the world today", in Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde, he respects "the grizzled veterans" who could be at home even in the most inclement conditions, in Froome, he sees a "genuine mate," a sincere and caring champion, never mind his absolutely atrocious bike handling skills, in Jon Degenkolb, an all round "nice guy" whose win fills even the hearts of his competitors with pride and joy. In a sweet juxtaposition of events, it is G's turn to be at the receiving end of compliments from rival teams on the last stage, when he is confirmed the winner.

The book is also sprinkled with thoughts by those who have witnessed G's journey from a teenage boy in Wales who only dreamed of riding on the Tour as his champions, to an actual champion himself. Sara Thomas (his wife), Sir Dave Brailsford (Principal at Team Sky), Rod Ellingworth, Tim Kerrison, and Chris Froome provide an external perspective on G's amazing triumph. 

The truly heart-warming part in this tale is that G's victory was more than just a race. It galvanized an entire nation. Hundreds of Welsh thronged the Champs-Élysées to witness history in the making. G was given a hero's welcome back home. Max Boyce, the celebrated Welsh songwriter-poet, even wrote a song commemorating G's victory - "The Boy Who Climbed A Mountain." The story of the 2018 Tour de France gives the reader hope that sometimes, nice guys do finish first!