Geraint Thomas survives a late flat tyre to win a rain-soaked Commonwealth Games road race in Glasgow.
Road race win follows time trial bronze
Geraint Thomas soloed to a dramatic victory in a rain-soaked Commonwealth Games road race after distancing his fellow breakaway riders on the final lap.
The Welshman jumped out of a three-man group that had edged clear from a dwindling peloton on the eighth of 12 laps in Glasgow, and proved the strongest of the trio as he took his win by over a minute.
Thomas suffered a late scare when he was forced to change his front wheel with just six kilometres to go, but the 28 year old remained calm and stayed clear to take his second medal of the Games, while Jack Bauer (New Zealand) edged out Scott Thwaites (England) for silver.
Immediately after the race, a tired but elated Thomas told the BBC: "It was such a grime day, and to be honest, I felt terrible at the start. I was thinking of stopping - I felt that bad - but luckily I got into it and everyone else seemed to come down to my level. When my move went it was perfect and I was surprised how easily we went away.
"When I had that front puncture I thought 'What am I going to do?', but fortunately I had a decent gap and managed to stay out in front. I'd stopped earlier on because my chain got tangled, and that wasn't ideal either, but it was a good day in the end.
"It's unbelievable to win here. I never expected to win it. Coming off the Tour - I was tired at the end of that - and I thought it would be a massive challenge physically to get some results here, but the motivation was there and I was buzzing off the Team Wales set up.
"The last time I rode for Wales was in Melbourne in 2006, so I committed to it, and to get a bronze in the time trial was a massive boost to the confidence. It showed I had recovered a bit, and then today I got stuck in and it all ended well."
Tough conditions
The race took place in horrendous conditions but that didn’t stop Peter Kennaugh shooting up the road in the opening kilometres.
The Manxman quickly opened up a gap of over a minute and that continued to grow as he pressed on alone.
It was a brave effort from the 25 year old, but the Tour of Austria winner was eventually reeled in on lap eight after leading for over 118km.
Thomas was among the trio who bridged across to Kennaugh, and despite a valiant effort to hold onto the leading three, he was eventually tailed off later in the lap.
Thomas meanwhile, worked well with Bauer and Thwaites as they opened up a significant advantage over the reduced bunch.
Heading into the final lap the gap stood at 3min 9sec back to the remaining riders, and it became clear the leading trio would battle it out for the medals places.
Thomas made his move with 11.6km to go on one of Glasgow's steep high streets, and quickly opened up his lead as Bauer and Thwaites looked to have settled for the runners-up places.
Disaster almost struck when Thomas suffered a flat tyre, but the Welshman had enough of an advantage as the problem was fixed, and held on for a hard-fought win.
Meanwhile Kennaugh soldiered on following his heroic effort and came home in eighth, two places behind his Team Sky team-mate Luke Rowe.
Thomas’s second medal was the fourth for a Team Sky rider and came on the back of Sir Bradley Wiggins’s silver medal for England in the team pursuit and Kennaugh’s silver medal for the Isle of Man in the points race.
