Thomas wins gold for Wales in Commonwealth Games road race

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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.

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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.

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