Geraint Thomas of Team Sky is preparing himself for an unbelievable opening few days of the Tour de France that begins today in Yorkshire in the UK. He was involved in the race when it last visited Britain and is surprisingly just one of only four Brits in the race along with teammate Chris Froome, sprinter Mark Cavendish and Orica-Greenedge neo-pro Simon Yates.

"It's great for it to come back here,” he said. “I rode in 2007 when it was in London and that was incredible, and cycling has only got bigger since. I’m really looking forward to it and the atmosphere is going to be unbelievable.”

"It's great to show how far British cycling has come. You look back at the Athens Olympics [in 2004], it was nowhere anywhere near this."

"It's kind of a dream. I don't think anyone would've predicted it and it's great for the sport. Hopefully it can continue to grow."

And once the small Yorshire roads have been conquered, there is only one day of “rest” before the dreaded cobbled stage that takes in the difficult Paris-Roubaix sectors.

Thomas performs well on the cobbles and will play a key role in ensuring that Chris Froome does not lose time to his key rivals as well as potentially being let off the leash to try and win his first ever Tour de France stage.

“It’s going to be really stressful. On the cobbles silly little crashes can happen. So can punctures. There are just a lot more variables. It’s going to be a massive fight to be in the best position possible going into each of the sections. I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to it or looking forward to it being over."

“It’s a different mentality looking after someone rather than racing it yourself. At Paris-Roubaix you get stuck in. You look after yourself and you fight, bounce around and get into the position you want. But when you’ve got a team leader following you, you need to be thinking about them all the time."

“From the recon he was fine over the cobbles. It’s just about getting him into the right place. I think we have a good team to get in the mindset of getting in there and going for it, rather than being defensive.”