Geraint Thomas claims yellow jersey for Team Sky at 2018 Tour de France

Defending Tour de France champion Chris Froome was bested by a teammate in 2018, as Geraint Thomas claimed the yellow jersey this time around for Team Sky.

On the eve of the 2018 Tour de France, there were signs that Geraint Thomas might be a rider to watch. The Welshman claimed the overall title at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June and won the British Time Trial Championships on the eve of the Tour.

Thomas had a test run for this moment in 2017. After winning the opening stage time trial in Düsseldorf, the Welsh lieutenant held onto the yellow jersey for the first four stages of the race. But in the end, Thomas ceded the jersey to his teammate Chris Froome. The defending champion wore yellow all but two stages of the race, carrying it to the final day in Paris and winning his fourth career Tour de France.

Though Thomas came to France this year on great form, it was hard to imagine Froome ceding leadership of Team Sky. After winning this year’s Giro d’Italia in May, Froome became the first cyclist in the sport’s long history to hold the general classification jerseys at all three grand tours at the same time.

As the defending Tour de France champion, Froome donned No. 1 at the 2018 race. Froome went to Italy while his positive test result for salbutamol was under appeal, and his participation at this year’s Tour de France was in doubt until the final week leading up to the race.

Though he was cleared to race in France, the hard miles put in to win the Giro d’Italia proved too much to recover from in time to take charge in France. A strong performance in the time trial on the penultimate stage boosted Froome back onto the podium in third place, but yellow proved too much to ask after claiming the maglia rosa in Italy less than two months earlier.

Thomas was there to pick up the mantle for his teammate

Team Sky has now captured six of the past seven yellow jerseys in Paris, thanks to Thomas picking up where his teammate left off. Bradley Wiggins started the run of dominance for Team Sky in 2012 as the first-ever British winner of the Tour de France.

Froome picked up where Wiggins left off in 2013, taking up team leadership after Wiggins focused on the Giro d’Italia. After finishing second behind his teammate in 2012, Froome won the yellow jersey by more than four minutes over Nairo Quintana.

Since that point, Froome has been the undisputed leader of Team Sky. Forced to abandon after suffering a broken wrist and broken hand in crashes on back-to-back stages in the first week of the 2014 Tour de France, Froome’s departure opened the door for Astana’s Vincenzo Nibali to win the Tour. Froome came back to restore Sky to the top of the podium, winning three more yellow jerseys between 2015 and 2017.

Just as the Giro caused Wiggins to cede Tour de France leadership to Froome, going to Italy caused Froome to cede leadership to Thomas. The 32-year-old Thomas made the most of his belated career opportunity to lead a team in the biggest stage race in the world.

How Thomas snatched the yellow jersey at the 2018 Tour de France

In the first two stages of the 2018 Tour de France, the sprinters dominated the competition. Fernando Gaviria wore the yellow jersey after capturing Stage 1 in Fontenay-le-Comte. Gaviria handed it off to world champion Peter Sagan in Stage 2 as the Slovak star took the win in La Roche-sur-Yon.

The team time trial on Stage 3 opened the door for the general classification favorites to begin shaking out. BMC won the stage, putting Greg Van Avermaet into yellow. Team Sky was just four seconds behind, and in the process, Thomas slotted in behind BMC’s top two riders, three seconds behind Van Avermaet and Tejay van Garderen. For the next week, Thomas remained within a few seconds of the lead.

Once the mountains hit, the Welshman asserted himself as the rider to beat. Julian Alaphilippe captured the first stage in the Alps after the first rest day, setting up his run at the polka dot jersey in the process. Then Thomas came out and claimed the next two stages in the high mountains. First Thomas conquered the stage to La Rosière, then he followed that up with a second consecutive victory on the climb up the Alpe d’Huez.

MEDAL RESULT | Tour de France general classification

Geraint Thomas

Tom Dumoulin

Chris Froome

After that back-to-back run of dominance in the first set of mountains, everyone else was left to chase Thomas. Nobody could catch the Welsh star, as he continued to chip away and add a few seconds to his advantage with each passing stage.

Holding on to the jersey through the Pyrenees, all Thomas needed to do after that was survive the time trial through the Basque Country on the last Saturday of the race. World time trial champion Tom Dumoulin was two minutes behind Thomas entering the penultimate stage. The leader lost just 14 seconds on the road to Dumoulin’s stage-winning time, and the yellow jersey was secure for the champagne toast into Paris.

What does this mean for Team Sky moving forward?

Just one year younger than Froome, it is hard to imagine that Thomas is now going to end up as the long-term solution to take over leadership at Team Sky. Instead, the 2018 Tour de France victory is likely going to end up as the reward for a long career spent in the service of others on the road.

Next year, Thomas will likely be back in France. Team Sky will probably bring back both of their former Tour de France champions in hopes that one extends the streak to seven Tour victories in eight years.

What Team Sky proved this year with this most recent yellow jersey is that they remain the strongest team in the professional peloton. From Wiggins to Froome to Thomas, Sky has consistently been able to dominate the Tour de France no matter who takes up leadership of the squad.

Froome and Thomas won’t be able to lead the team forever. Perhaps Michal Kwiatkowski, the 28-year-old Polish rider who has been a solid lieutenant and strong all-around racer, could be the next Sky rider to extend the streak in 2019 and beyond. The team also has breakout Colombian star-in-the-making Egan Bernal to count on for years to come, after the 21-year-old proved a formidable assistant for Thomas this July and earned a top-15 finish.