Thomas hailed as ‘Perfect Poster boy’ after Tour win

LONDON: Geraint Thomas was labelled the “Perfect Poster Boy” on Monday after the British Team Sky rider deposed teammate and four-time champion Chris Froome to win the Tour de France.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist finished the race in Paris with a cushion of nearly two minutes over Dutch rival Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) to secure his first yellow jersey, with Froome in third.

Amid a general feeling of suspicion surrounding Sky and their sheer domination of the Tour, Froome was spat at and manhandled and Thomas booed off the podium earlier in the race. Froome was the subject of an investigation into why a sample from his 2017 Tour of Spain victory revealed twice the permitted amount of the asthma drug salbutamol.

Banned from racing by organisers, Froome was allowed to race after cycling’s governing body, the UCI, dropped its case against him.The Guardian said it would be narrow-minded of British fans to whitewash the long and legitimate criticisms of Team Sky.

“Yet it is hard not to warm to Thomas, who has remained droll and engaging even when the pressure has been greatest.The Times said one of the most popular men in the sport had won the toughest race on earth.“Thomas’s Tour de France win has certainly bought his team a huge amount of much-needed goodwill,” it said.