Few winners at this year’s Games can have been as popular as Wales’ Geraint Thomas, with the Cardiff-born 28-year-old stepping out of the shadows to prove himself as a team leader.

So often Thomas has forgone personal glory to support others – riding with a fractured pelvis at the Tour de France in 2013 for Chris Froome before burying any individual ambitions as he rode for Froome, Richie Porte and finally Mikel Nieve in Team Sky’s doomed Tour this time out.

The few opportunities he has had as a team leader, he has taken – excelling at Paris-Nice before crashing out when well-placed overall, for example, and finishing on the podium at E3-Harelbeke, before securing top ten finishes at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

And now Thomas has put those near-misses behind him with arguably the best win of his road career, overcoming the treacherous conditions and recovering from a terribly-timed puncture and slow wheel change on the final lap to win gold. Coupled with his time trial bronze medal, the Welshman has completed a superb Games on the back of his best ever Tour de France (22nd).

Team Sky’s resident hard man is likely to focus on week-long stage races and the Classics in 2015 and, now he is well and truly out of the shadows, Thomas is well positioned to blossom in the role of team leader when he is given the opportunity over the next 12 months.