Tour of Britain ended with Romain Grégoire taking the victory in the General Classification after a six-stage race, with extremely close results (Remco Evenepoel finished just 2 seconds behind, third-placed Julian Alaphilippe was four seconds behind Grégoire, and the top ten were separated by only 17 seconds.
However, the spiritual protagonist of the race was Geraint Thomas, the Welsh rider who chose to end his career at his home, Cardiff, where he was born 39 years ago. Thousands of fans celebrated Thomas' illustrious career, which includes victories both in velodromes and road racing: Tour de France 2018, Tour of the Alps 2017, Paris-Nice 2016, E3 Harelbeke 2015, Tour de Suisse 2022, and on track, three World Championships (2007, 2008, and 2012) and two Olympic medals in 2008 and 2012.
While Tour of Britain doesn't attract large crowds, according to CyclingWeekly, there were "almost overwhelming crowds" to watch one of greatest Welsh athletes of all-time, who chose "not to say much because I think I'm going to break down again".
"I kind of feel like I've been lucky my whole career with how things have panned out. Being in my prime for the home Olympics, the years I've had and finishing here and deciding to stop this year and and then have this weekend. It's all kind of aligned, it's unbelievable, really. I never expected that at all."