Olympics cycling: Geraint Thomas has no Tour de France regret

Team Pursuit gold medallist Geraint Thomas does not regret prioritising the London Olympics over the Tour de France.

Before the 2012 Games, Great Britain head coach Shane Sutton said he believed Thomas's decision was based on a desire to please his Welsh fans.

Cardiff-born Thomas, 26, denied Sutton's assertion at the time.

And asked by BBC Radio Wales whether it was worth missing the tour, Thomas said: "Definitely, without a doubt."

Thomas helped Team GB shatter their own world record as they defended the men's Olympic pursuit title, the quartet clocking three minutes 51.659 seconds to knock nearly a second off the world record they had set in qualifying.

Australia finished with silver, nearly three seconds behind Team GB.

In April, Sutton said the Welshman made the decision to make the Olympics his 2012 focus for the "wrong reasons".

But having helped GB win gold at the 2012 World Track Cycling Championships in Melbourne, Thomas was faced with a stark choice.

Bradley Wiggins, who was part of the successful quartet in 2008, won the Tour de France less than a fortnight before the Olympic track cycling began on 2 August and Thomas had been forced to choose between the competitions.

In October 2011, he opted for the Olympics and after winning his second Games gold having been ill in the build-up, said: "There's no topping this. It's incredible."

In the process, Thomas became only the fourth Welshman to be a multiple Olympic gold medallist.

Paulo Radmilovic won swimming and water polo golds at the 1908 London Games, before going on to win water polo golds in Stockholm in 1912 and Antwerp in 1920.

Hugh Edwards won two rowing golds at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

And Tom James followed up his part in the coxless men's four win in Beijing in 2008 with a successful defence at Eton Dorney in 2012.

That leaves Radmilovic, James and Thomas as the three Welsh competitors to have helped defend an Olympic crown.