\n<\/p>\n
On his temptation to delay his retirement until the 2027 Tour, Thomas said: “I was chatting to the family about it, but 41 is pretty old. <\/p>\n
“I’ll have to make do with watching it on the side of the road.”<\/p>\n
The men’s and women’s Tour de France will both begin in Britain in 2027, with Edinburgh to stage the men’s Grand Depart.<\/p>\n
Route details and the Grand Depart for the Tour de France Femmes will be announced in the autumn.<\/p>\n
And Thomas hopes Welsh cycling will benefit from hosting part of the Tour.<\/p>\n
“It’ll just be so big, so massive for the whole country,” he added.<\/p>\n
“I heard the rumours, but then when I heard it was actually confirmed that it was going to happen, I was like, ‘wow, maybe I could keep racing for another two years just to try and get there’. <\/p>\n
“But, yeah, no chance of that really.<\/p>\n
“It will be massive for Wales, massive for the UK in general, starting up in Scotland, and then obviously in England, and a stage finishing in Wales is just amazing. <\/p>\n
“Wales has so much to offer. You don’t need super hard mountains to make it entertaining racing, and Wales definitely has a lot of hard roads. <\/p>\n
“In south Wales you can easily do quite a few climbs and then finish in Cardiff. Or in north Wales, there’s plenty of tough terrain as well and beautiful landscapes.<\/p>\n
“It’ll just be great to showcase Wales and how beautiful it is.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n