'The end of an era, he's had an amazing career' - Chris Froome reacts to Geraint Thomas' retirement announcement
Current teammate Josh Tarl💖ing says 'I'm gonna miss him. I think he's such a nice guy on and off the bike'

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Chris Froome has described 168澳洲5最新开🐎奖结果:Ge🦋raint Thomas' retirement announcement as a sign of "the end of an era", with many of the stars from British Cycling's golden generation of the 2010s either al෴ready end꧙ing or coming close to the end of their careers.
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Geraint Thomas, 38, and Froome, 39, won five Tours de France between them in the 2013-2018 period and were key parts of Team Sky and Britain's rise to the top of cycling, alongside the likes of Bradley Wiggins, who won the 2012 Tour, and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Mark Cavendish.
The B🐼ritish pair both came t🦂o Sky in 2010 after starting their professional careers at the Barloworld team and famously battled as teammates for victory at the 2018 Tour, where the Welshman Thomas came out on top and Froome finished third.
"It's certainly coming to the end of an era, with a fair few guys from my generation stopping," Froome told Cyclingnews of his former teammate, speaking ahead of stage 3 at the UAE Toꦬur.
"He's had an amazing career I think, during a hu🤡꧂ge period of British cycling as well."
Stage 2 winner in the UAE, Josh Tarling, also reacted positively to Thomas' anᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚnouncement, adding that his fellow Welshman is "more of a friend" than just a teammate. They've coincidentally never raced together, which Tarling is hoping to rectify this season.
"I mean my first my first camp, I roomed with him, and he put that tweet up of my organizatio𝔉n skills," said Tarling with a smile. "I'm gonna miss him. I think he's such a nice guy on and off the bike.
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"To be honest, I don't like speaking too much about cycling with him, because☂ he's more of a friend, you know. But I haven't actually done a race with him y🅘et, but from what I heard, he's class, to work for and ride with."
Froome and Thomas were part of the best Grand Tour racing year in British history during that 2018 season when all three winners of cycling's big three-week races came from the same nation. Froome won the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Giro d'Italia, Thomas the Tour and Simon Yates claimed the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Vuelta a España.
However, the eꦆxperienced Brit thinks that Great Britain as a nation is a long way from repeating its heydays in the 2010s.
"We've had so much success over the ye🔜ars and there's a lot ofꦯ young talent coming through," Froome said. "But it might still be a while until we see another Grand Tour winner."
Despite Thomas confirming that 2025 would be his final🌱 season as a professional, Froome has been open about wanting to extend his career past this year, even though it is the last on his contract at Israel-Premier Tech, with the hunger just the same as it was 15 years ago.
"I'm very much still enjoying it. Still feel extremely grateful to be doing what I love, that's the biggest sentiment I have really and just make the most of what could pote𝓰ntially be my final seasonꦉ," Froome said.
Froome wants to get back to a Grand Tour this season, with his last appearance at one being at the 2022 Vuelta. He's been well ☂away from the form to get selected ever since his near-career-ending crash at the Dauphiné but with the end approaching, Froome is still prepared to give everything.
"There's no easy way [to get back to a Grand Tour], it's just about going through the processes, all the sacrifices that come with that, the time on training camps, and the bar is only getting higher," Froome told Cyclingnews.
"So I've just got to keep my head down, keep working hard and as I am nearing the end of my career it would be great to get back to another G🤪rand Tour this year."
The main component of that raised bar is a certain 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who is also racing at the UAE To🌼ur this week with Froome. As the last generation's GC star, Froome is mostly impressed by his successor's versatility and ability to perform at all races, all year round.
"It's amazing to witness what he's capable of doing. What really blows me away is really his ability in o🧜ne-day races," Froome said.
"Obviously it's incredibly impressive to see what he's doing in stage races but to be able to do ൩that and be extremely strong and winning race🅠s like Flanders, it's almost unheard of.
"It's amazing to witness that now, especially when the sport ha🔴s become so specialised - to see someone who is literally almost doing everything, is pretty remarkable. "There's definitely a sentiment that when he's at the race, a lot of guys are racing for second, so we🎉'll see today - he didn't quite have the legs in the sprint the other day to go clear and destroy everyone but today is a completely different race."

James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team♚ he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.