Third Time Plucky

Thomas ready to Mount major challenge on Fuji

- Mike Walters

Geraint Thomas leads a new Team GB gold rush on Mount Fuji in the early hours, hoping it’s third time lucky in the Olympic road race.

Among British cycling’s blazing saddles, few riders can match the former Tour de France champion’s greatest hits – or his catalog of hard-luck stories.

Despite being a double Olympic gold medallist on the track, Thomas has never reached the podium on the road.

Surveying a grueling 143-mile slog – including climbs of Mount Fuji, a brutal 20 per cent gradient on the Mikuni Pass, and finishing on the Fuji international speedway track – he warned: “A lot can go right but a lot can go wrong.”