Thomas wins gold for Wales in Commonwealth Games road race

Geraint Thomas took a heart-stopping solo victory in the Commonwealth Games men’s road race, beating Jack Bauer (New Zealand) and Scott Thwaites (England). The Welshman attacked on the last ascent of St. Vincent Street, but suffered a puncture in the closing kilometres. He didn’t panic as he waited for a slow wheel change and powered home to win by more than a minute.

“It's unbelievable, I never expected it to be honest," Thomas said after the race. "Coming after the Tour [de France], I was tired at the end of that. I thought it would be a massive challenge to get results here. But the motivation was there, and to get bronze in the time trial was a massive boost for the confidence."

Behind Thomas, it was Bauer and Thwaites who battled it out for the remaining two medals. The two had been in the attack with Thomas, which went clear on lap eight, but neither had the legs to go with him when jumped in the finale. Thwaites led out the sprint for silver, but Bauer came around him to pip him to the line by the smallest of margins. What was left of the peloton was led over the line by Russell Downing (England), more than four minutes behind the winner.

The scene was set for what was going to be a gruelling race as the heavens opened over Glasgow moments before the 139 riders took to the start line. The large criterium-like circuit was already going to be tricky to master but with wet roads it was a whole other matter. The race had barely got going when Peter Kennaugh (Isle of Man) flew off the front.

Kennaugh’s attack scattered the race to the four winds, and riders began to get blown off the back as the peloton tried to chase down the lone Manxman. There were a few furtive looks over the shoulder, but it wasn’t long before Kennaugh knew he would have to do this one alone.

Three separate attacks tried to chase him down, the most serious of them was a three-man move consisting of Nathan Haas (Australia), Svein Tuft (Canada) and Peter Hawkins (Northern Ireland). None succeeded and all were quickly absorbed by the peloton. As the group behind settled into a rhythm, Kennaugh’s gap continued to grow to almost two minutes at the halfway point.

As in the women’s race, Australia were the dominant team on the front of the peloton. Thursday’s silver medallist in the time trial, Rohan Dennis was initially the rider doing most of the work. The rain had abated, but the roads were still slick, and the newly-announced BMC rider came a cropper on a cobbled corner. Dennis avoided any serious injuries, but decided to call it quits, suffering with cuts and bruises.

Tired of doing the chasing, as they had for almost the entire race, Australia tried a different tactic by sending Haas up the road and handing the chasing duties to New Zealand. The experiment didn’t work, however, Kennaugh only gained time.

After riding for well over 100 kilometres on his own, Kennaugh suddenly found himself in company when Jack Bauer saw his opportunity on St Vincent Street and began to solo across. He was soon joined by Thomas and Thwaites, and the trio connected with Kennaugh after he crested Gibson Street, two climbs later. After doing all the early work, Australia were noticeably missing from the lead group. It was the beginning of the end for Kennaugh, who was blown out the back of the lead group before the end of the lap.

The fight for the medals had been whittled down to just three men. Each one was guaranteed some reward, but the question was which colour would it be? Aware that his sprint wasn’t enough to match Thwaites, Thomas decided to have a dig near the top of St. Vincent Street. The Welshman was the strongest man on the climb and quickly built up a substantial lead.

Just when it looked like Thomas was certain of victory, a puncture would have had his heart beating a little faster. With no team car around, he was forced to take a neutral service wheel and endure an excruciatingly slow change. Mercifully, Thomas got going before the two chasers reached him but his advantage had been cut in half. “When I got that puncture, I thought to myself 'what am I going to do?', but luckily I had enough of a gap to hold on,” said Thomas, who won by a margin of 1:21 over the two chasers.

Full Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Geraint Thomas (Wales)4:13:05
2Jack Bauer (New Zealand)0:01:21
3Scott Thwaites (England)Row 2 - Cell 2
4Russell Downing (England)0:04:29
5Mark Renshaw (Australia)Row 4 - Cell 2
6Luke Rowe (Wales)0:04:32
7Greg Henderson (New Zealand)0:05:15
8Peter Kennaugh (Isle of Man)Row 7 - Cell 2
9Dan Craven (Namibia)0:09:03
10Scott Davies (Wales)0:10:10
11David Millar (Scotland)0:10:21
12Caleb Ewan (Australia)0:11:22
DNFSean Downey (Northern Ireland)Row 12 - Cell 2
DNFSimon Clarke (Australia)Row 13 - Cell 2
DNFGrant Ferguson (Scotland)Row 14 - Cell 2
DNFThomas Moses (England)Row 15 - Cell 2
DNFThomas Scully (New Zealand)Row 16 - Cell 2
DNFOwain Doull (Wales)Row 17 - Cell 2
DNFShane Archbold (New Zealand)Row 18 - Cell 2
DNFTobyn Horton (Guernsey)Row 19 - Cell 2
DNFNathan Haas (Australia)Row 20 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Hepburn (Australia)Row 21 - Cell 2
DNFWilliam Routley (Canada)Row 22 - Cell 2
DNFJake Kelly (Isle of Man)Row 23 - Cell 2
DNFConnor McConvey (Northern Ireland)Row 24 - Cell 2
DNFSvein Tuft (Canada)Row 25 - Cell 2
DNFPaul Oldham (England)Row 26 - Cell 2
DNFJames McLaughlin (Guernsey)Row 27 - Cell 2
DNFRoger Robert Aiken (Northern Ireland)Row 28 - Cell 2
DNFTill Drobisch (Namibia)Row 29 - Cell 2
DNFJesse Segent (New Zealand)Row 30 - Cell 2
DNFPeter Hawkins (Northern Ireland)Row 31 - Cell 2
DNFAdrien Niyanshuti (Rwanda)Row 32 - Cell 2
DNFNicholas Hamilton (Canada)Row 33 - Cell 2
DNFSuleiman Kangangi (Kenya)Row 34 - Cell 2
DNFEd Veal (Canada)Row 35 - Cell 2
DNFJanvier Hadi (Rwanda)Row 36 - Cell 2
DNFRichard Loning'o Laizer (Tanzania)Row 37 - Cell 2
DNFDominique Mayho (Bermuda)Row 38 - Cell 2
DNFFraser Duncan (Northern Ireland)Row 39 - Cell 2
DNFMarios Athanasiadis (Cyprus)Row 40 - Cell 2
DNFYannick Lincoln (Mauritius)Row 41 - Cell 2
DNFChristos Loizou (Cyprus)Row 42 - Cell 2
DNFLoh Sea Keong (Malaysia)Row 43 - Cell 2
DNFJames McCallum (Scotland)Row 44 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Northey (New Zealand)Row 45 - Cell 2
DNFSamuel Harrison (Wales)Row 46 - Cell 2
DNFMatthew Osborn (Guernsey)Row 47 - Cell 2
DNFGeron Williams (Guyana)Row 48 - Cell 2
DNFJamol Eastmond (Barbados)Row 49 - Cell 2
DNFMarlon Williams (Guyana)Row 50 - Cell 2
DNFAlanzo Greaves (Guyana)Row 51 - Cell 2
DNFGerhard Mans (Namibia)Row 52 - Cell 2
DNFHeiko Redecker (Namibia)Row 53 - Cell 2
DNFAnim Samuel (Ghana)Row 54 - Cell 2
DNFJeevan Jayasinghe (Sri Lanka)Row 55 - Cell 2
DNFGasore Hategeka (Rwanda)Row 56 - Cell 2
DNFAgorir Ngasike (Kenya)Row 57 - Cell 2
DNFJyme Bridges (Antigua and Barbuda)Row 58 - Cell 2
DNFJohn Muya (Kenya)Row 59 - Cell 2
DNFMuhammad Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi (Malaysia)Row 60 - Cell 2
DNFAndrew Fenn (Scotland)Row 61 - Cell 2
DNFMark Christian (Isle of Man)Row 62 - Cell 2
DNFAlex Dowsett (England)Row 63 - Cell 2
DNFDennis Rohan (Australia)Row 64 - Cell 2
DNFRaynauth Jeffrey (Guyana)Row 65 - Cell 2
DNFDavid Njau (Kenya)Row 66 - Cell 2
DNFJames Roe (Guernsey)Row 67 - Cell 2
DNFJordan Lebon (Mauritius)Row 68 - Cell 2
DNFTeboho Khantsi (Lesotho)Row 69 - Cell 2
DNFEvan Oliphant (Scotland)Row 70 - Cell 2
DNFJack Pullar (Scotland)Row 71 - Cell 2
DNFAndrew Roche (Isle of Man)Row 72 - Cell 2
DNFElliot Baxter (Isle of Man)Row 73 - Cell 2
DNFCosta Seibib (Namibia)Row 74 - Cell 2
DNFRemi Pelletier (Canada)Row 75 - Cell 2
DNFEmmanuel Philimon Mollely (Tanzania)Row 76 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Serafin (Guernsey)Row 77 - Cell 2
DNFAaron Bailey (Guernsey)Row 78 - Cell 2
DNFRobert Barnes (Jamaica)Row 79 - Cell 2
DNFArvind Panwar (India)Row 80 - Cell 2
DNFBonaventure Uwizeyimana (Rwanda)Row 81 - Cell 2
DNFJean Bosco Nsengimana (Rwanda)Row 82 - Cell 2
DNFValens Ndayisenga (Rwanda)Row 83 - Cell 2
DNFJonathan Mould (Wales)Row 84 - Cell 2
DNFMorgan Rudd (Swaziland)Row 85 - Cell 2
DNFAra Mondjem (Swaziland)Row 86 - Cell 2
DNFOrano Andrews (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)Row 87 - Cell 2
DNFCameron Adams (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)Row 88 - Cell 2
DNFBuddihika Warnakula Sooriya (Sri Lanka)Row 89 - Cell 2
DNFEdward Pothin (Seychelles)Row 90 - Cell 2
DNFChris Germain (Seychelles)Row 91 - Cell 2
DNFAntoine Arrisol (Seychelles)Row 92 - Cell 2
DNFLoto Petrus (Namibia)Row 93 - Cell 2
DNFSebastien Tyack (Mauritius)Row 94 - Cell 2
DNFMike Cong Chin (Mauritius)Row 95 - Cell 2
DNFLeonard Tsoyo (Malawi)Row 96 - Cell 2
DNFMissi Kathumba (Malawi)Row 97 - Cell 2
DNFRichard Tanguy (Jersey)Row 98 - Cell 2
DNFAmit Kumar (India)Row 99 - Cell 2
DNFMuhammad I'Maadi Abd Aziz (Brunei Darussalam)Row 100 - Cell 2
DNFRon Vasquez (Belize)Row 101 - Cell 2
DNFGregory Lovell (Belize)Row 102 - Cell 2
DNFGiovanni Lovell (Belize)Row 103 - Cell 2
DNFJoel Borland (Belize)Row 104 - Cell 2
DNFJay Major (Bahamas)Row 105 - Cell 2
DNFMarvin Spencer (Antigua and Barbuda)Row 106 - Cell 2
DNFAnthony Colebrook (Bahamas)Row 107 - Cell 2
DNFChad Albury (Bahamas)Row 108 - Cell 2
DNFDanny Laud (Anguilla)Row 109 - Cell 2
DNFAnthony Muite (Kenya)Row 110 - Cell 2
DNFOneil Samuels (Jamaica)Row 111 - Cell 2
DNFMarloe Rodman (Jamaica)Row 112 - Cell 2
DNFSombir (India)Row 113 - Cell 2
DNFIan Stannard (England)Row 114 - Cell 2
DNFMichele Smith (Cayman Islands)Row 115 - Cell 2
DNFZachary Bell (Canada)Row 116 - Cell 2
DNFAndre Simon (Antigua and Barbuda)Row 117 - Cell 2
DNFPhetetso Monese (Lesotho)Row 118 - Cell 2
DNFManjeet Singh (India)Row 119 - Cell 2
DNFMoses Sesay (Sierra Leone)Row 120 - Cell 2
DNFSuresh Bishnoi (India)Row 121 - Cell 2
DNFScott Savory (Guyana)Row 122 - Cell 2
DNFDeangelo Stirrup (Bahamas)Row 123 - Cell 2
DNFRoy Colebrook Jnr (Bahamas)Row 124 - Cell 2
DNFSebastian Kigongo Semakula (Uganda)Row 125 - Cell 2
DNFLeon Matovu (Uganda)Row 126 - Cell 2
DNFAbdul Umar (Ghana)Row 127 - Cell 2
DNFMohammed Osman (Ghana)Row 128 - Cell 2
DNFAnthony Boakye Dankwa (Ghana)Row 129 - Cell 2
DNFKris Pradel (Anguilla)Row 130 - Cell 2
DNFSherwin Osborne (Anguilla)Row 131 - Cell 2
DNFJoseph Kelly (Isle of Man)Row 132 - Cell 2
DNFJesse Kelly (Isle of Man)Row 133 - Cell 2
DNFShreedhar Savanur (India)Row 134 - Cell 2
DNFChristian Spence (Jersey)Row 135 - Cell 2
DNFBenjamin Philip (Anguilla)Row 136 - Cell 2
DNFJustin Hodge (Anguilla)Row 137 - Cell 2
DNFPhilip Lavery (Northern Ireland)Row 138 - Cell 2
DNSChristopher Symonds (Ghana)Row 139 - Cell 2

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Born in Ireland to a cycling family and later moved to the Isle of Man, so there was no surprise when I got into the sport. Studied sports journalism at university before going on to do a Masters in sports broadcast. After university I spent three months interning at Eurosport, where I covered the Tour de France. In 2012 I started at Procycling Magazine, before becoming the deputy editor of Procycling Week. I then joined Cyclingnews, in December 2013.

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