Geraint Thomas took to social media on Monday to auction off his Ineos Grenadiers gilet at the Tour de France, with the proceeds set to go to his Cycling Trust.
The gilet gained notoriety on stage 1 of the Tour de France in Copenhagen, when Thomas admitted that he had forgotten to take it off for his effort in the 13.2km time trial.
Thomas, who won the Tour in 2018, surprisingly logged a time that was 18 seconds down on the front runners at the first time check.
It was all the more unexpected given his strong run of form, including a second place in the time trial at the Tour de Suisse, a race where he went on to win the general classification.
One of three GC leaders for Ineos at this year's Tour along with Dani Martínez and Adam Yates, Thomas recorded a negative split after he admitted to forgetting to remove his gilet.
"That was the worst first half of a time trial I've ever done," he admitted in his post-stage interview. "I was cornering like my wife – she hasn't ridden a bike in 12 years – it was unbelievable. Then I realised I had my gilet on. I zipped it up, it was nice and snug and I didn't realise."
Thomas made up time in the second half of the time trial to finish in 18th position. "The legs were good, which is the main thing, but the cornering was terrible. I just overthought it."
Thomas wrote on Instagram: 'Right, now you’re all done chuckling at my gilet I thought we could have some fun with it.'
He has challenged fans to take the gilet on a journey around France, beginning today in Dunkirk. 'I’d love it to go to a different fan each day on its journey and once it makes it back to me in Paris, I’ll auction it off with proceeds going to the Geraint Thomas Cycling Trust.'
Thomas currently sits in 12th spot on GC, 32 seconds behind yellow jersey Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
