Geoff Thomas Foundation

TWO years to the day after being told he had potentially fatal leukaemia, former England footballer Geoff Thomas rode 199 kilometres between the French cities of Troyes and Nancy.

It would have been an impressive athletic achievement in any circumstances but that day's bike ride was just a small part of an incredible effort by Geoff in the summer of 2005.

Inspired by the books of Tour de France grand champion, and cancer survivor, Lance Armstrong while he was undergoing his gruelling treatment for leukaemia, Thomas vowed to a friend that if he survived he would ride the entire Tour route to raise money to battle the disease.

Even after medical experts told the ex-Crystal Palace star that his disease was in remission, the odds of him completing the 3,484 kilometre Tour route looked miniscule.

Not only was Thomas still recovering from the effects of the illness and its treatment but, even in his years as an elite international footballer, he had never once ridden a bike!

Yet Thomas, showing the same determination, which characterised his playing career and his fight to beat leukaemia, refused to listen to those who said he would be unable to complete what is generally considered to be one of the most difficult physical tests on the planet.

And so, on July 21, Geoff's wife Julie, plus daughters Madison and Georgia, were among dozens of fans and well-wishers who lined the Champs Elysees to welcome him, his four fellow team riders and support crew as they completed the 21st - and final - stage of the 2005 Tour de France.

Thomas and his team had battled temperatures that ranged from 3 degrees to 40. He had faced weather that varied from the dry heat of the south of France to sleet and snow at the top of the 8,000-feet Galibier in the Alps.

Along the route, Geoff had completed hundreds of media interviews, with journalists from all over the world, met thousands of well-wishers and supporters, including Mayors, civic dignitaries and Tony Blair's former right-hand man Alastair Campbell, a keen triathlete who rode a time trial stage in St. Etienne with the team.

Geoff had also raised over £170,000 for leukaemia research - a hugely impressive figure that made all the blood, sweat and tears worthwhile.

Journalist Ian Whittell was one of the four riders who accompanied Geoff around France in 2005.

He said: "Geoff's achievements rank up there with the most impressive sporting feats that any of us had ever seen.

"There was a day in the Pyrenees when we had to ride over six mountains and which we all knew was going to be the toughest of the whole Tour. Geoff has a problem with his tear ducts because of the chemotherapy he went through. He cannot produce tears so, in the heat and dust, his eyes were literally dried shut.

"None of us could see how Geoff could continue, especially when we had to ride down a mountain at 50mph! But he just positioned a Land Rover in front of him, because he could just about make out its shape, and rode down behind it, half-blind. It was the most amazing thing any of us had ever seen and, even though there was still about a week to go, that's when we all knew there was no way he was going to fail."

The honours and awards came rolling in for Geoff as the incredible story of his efforts became widely known.

But perhaps the most meaningful came late in 2005 when Geoff was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award.

To bring Geoff's amazing story neatly full circle, the award was "presented," via a video link, by none other than Lance Armstrong, the man who had inspired Thomas to take on Le Tour in the first place.

To re-live Geoff's extraordinary circumstances on the 2005 Tour, read his diaries at:
http://www.lrf.org.uk/en/1/funtoudiaapril3.html