He has conquered Alpe d'Huez and climbed Mont Ventoux. But Geraint Thomas is now embarking on the toughest test of his cycling career - without even leaving his garage.

To raise

He has conquered Alpe d'Huez and climbed Mont Ventoux. But Geraint Thomas is now embarking on the toughest test of his cycling career - without even leaving his garage.

To raise money for the NHS, the 2018 Tour de France champion has set himself the challenge of riding his turbotrainer bike for 12 consecutive hours on each of the next three days.

'The idea is to mirror an NHS worker's 12-hour shifts but now it's here I'm a bit worried,' admits Thomas over a Zoom video call before starting his epic ride at 7.30 on Wednesday morning.

Geraint Thomas aims to ride his turbotrainer bike for 12 hours on each of the next three days

'I think it's going to be a lot harder than a Tour stage. For a start, you're not racing, I'm just on my own pedalling away in my garage sat in Cardiff.

'Time wise, it's also a lot more - three days, 36 hours. That's close to eight or nine stages of the Tour and volume wise, it's a lot more condensed.

'The longest I've done on the bike before is 8h 35m in Majorca in December when we did a lap of the island. On the turbo, it's three and a half hours so this is more or less four times what I've ever done.

'Physically it will be tough. My legs, heart and lungs should be OK but it's more the contact points - your hands, your a***.

'But mentally it will be even harder because I haven't got that massive competitive edge to keep me going, to keep me racing.'

Thomas will be riding on Zwift, a virtual training platform which allows others to join him. Welsh rugby legend Shane Williams has already signed up - and Thomas is trying to get George North and Gareth Thomas on board as well.

'Shane was dead keen and I'm trying to bully George North into doing it but he's not having any of it,' the Team INEOS rider smiles.

'I'll have Zwift on but I won't be looking at that the whole time. I'll do Instagram Live and ring a few mates. I'll have a bit of Netflix as well - I'll watch a bit of Formula One: Drive to Survive.'

The 2018 Tour de France champion is aiming to raise £100,000 for NHS Charities Together

Thomas is aiming to raise £100,000 for NHS Charities Together, inspired by his mum Hilary, who has come out of retirement to go back to worse as a nurse during the coronavirus pandemic.

'My mum worked at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff for 30 years. She has retired three times but when this pandemic came along, she rang them up and said, 'Do you want me to come back?', so she is doing two days a week now.

'My best man from when I got married is also a GP in St Helens. The NHS means a lot to everyone. We all know someone who works for them and everyone understands how much commitment they are making.' 

While Thomas has a clear plan for the next three days, he remains in limbo about the rest of the summer following Tuesday’s confirmation that the Tour de France will be moved from its original start date of June 27.

Organisers have said they are looking ‘to try and find new dates’ with the end of August the most likely. The last time the Tour was cancelled altogether was in 1946, when France was still emerging from the Second World War. 

'I've got as much of an idea as anyone else if it will happen but I'm hoping and praying that it will,' adds Thomas. 'It is the pinnacle of cycling, it represents the sport and certainly that's the thing that's keeping me going at the minute.

'I am still treating it like it's going to happen it just might be postponed until August or September. It's hard when you don't know when it's going to be but you've just got to have that target down the line.'