Geoff Thomas Foundation

STAGE THREE

WAREGEM TO COMPIEGNE 236.5 km

THE longest stage of the 2007 Tour de France and, I am very sorry to say, the
last day that Ian Wright will be riding for us for the time being at least.

Wrightie has very kindly promised to write a diary entry for us when he gets
back to London, recounting his experiences with Team Thomas on the roads of
England, Belgium and France so I will let you wait to hear from the horse's
mouth.

All I want to say in the time being is how incredibly grateful and touched I
have been that he has dedicated almost a week of his very busy life to come out
and try and raise the profile of what we are doing.

I won't forget it.

All I will say about Wrightie is that he has become one of the guys,
accepting everyone and accepted by everyone in return and he feels as strongly
as any of us about getting the message out there.

There are many interesting and memorable Wrightie stories that I will long
remember from his appearance here at the Tour. Some of them are best left
untold, perhaps, but one from today that still makes me laugh thinking about it,
came when he took a break for a few miles after finding the riding just a little
bit too much.

Wrightie being Wrightie, jumped out of the support car after a 15 mile rest,
jumped on his bike and sprinted straight to the front of our group telling his
mate Mitchell Thomas, who had driven over especially for the day, I feel strong
now Mitch.

Two miles later, the road hit a slight gradient, Wrightie fell back inch by
inch, turned to Mitch and said, No I don't!

It was vintage Wrightie and had us all in stitches and, boy, did we need his
diversions today after a marathon 145-mile plus romp from Belgium south into
France. Largely flat roads, incredible wind blowing us all over the shop, and
gray skies and drizzle. This wasn't what I signed up for!

We were glad to have a few guests with us. There was Mitch, Wrightie's old
pal and a sparring partner of mine from his days at Spurs and West Ham, among
others. Mitch has become a really keen cyclist and is an incredibly strong
rider.

He brought with him one of his training partners from the local bike club in
Luton that he has joined Muzzer. And there were two riders from Pearsons Cycles
in London Gordon and Tony.

They were a very welcome four extra members of our gang and, given how windy
it was, we definitely appreciated their help. The four newboys said from the
start that they would do all the work at the front all day and they were true to
their word. That saved us a heck of a lot of hard work and I think we will be
especially grateful of that later this week.

There was a typical Thomas Tour debacle this time AFTER we finished the ride
when it took us nearly two hours to find out hotel and found us almost riding on
a motorway at one stage. But not even that setback could ruin the good feeling
the guys had at knocking off the longest but not the toughest stage of the Tour.

The guy from our regulars who stood out for special mention today was Dave
Grainger, from Evesham, who looked stronger than he has all week. That would be
impressive enough in its own right but Dave has also only just stopped being
treated for throat cancer at the start of this year and still had a tube in his
throat as recently as March.

If you want an example of who we are, what we are and what we are trying to
achieve then Dave is it.

Dave could not even start training until May. He is 50-years-old, a
grandfather, and, although he was an incredible athlete before being diagnosed
(he has done ironman triathlons and run 40 marathons!) nobody in their right
mind would expect him to try and take on something like this.

Dave's an amazing example to us all and I know Wrightie was especially
inspired by him after the two of them rode most of the London-Canterbury Sportif
the week before we started.

The late finish means that's all for tonight and tomorrow we head ever
towards the Alps with a lumpy stage ending in Joigny.

Keep spreading the word and look out for Wrightie's diary in the next few
days.