THERE was huge excitement on the roads of Monmouthshire on Saturday as Welsh 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas and the Tour of Britain rode through the county, followed by an emotional finish in his last race ever in front of thousands of fans in his Cardiff home city 24 hours later.

Belgian Olympic road race champion Remco Evenepoel won the tussle on the Tumble to take Saturday's stage 5 after racing from Pontypool through Usk, Chepstow, Monmouth, Abergavenny and Blaenavon.

French cyclist Romain Grégoire then held off Evenepoel to take the Tour by just two seconds in Cardiff, as Dutchman Olav Kooij burst from the bunch to win a sprint finish.

But fans on the highways and byways of Monmouthshire and South East Wales were all eyes for a glimpse of Geraint – one of Wales' greatest sportsmen – in his farewell to racing.

The 39-year-old's career celebrations included a guard of honour from the entire peloton at the stage 6 start in Newport from the velodrome that bears his name, and a farewell party at Cardiff Castle, as the sporting legend hung up his wheels after two tough days racing in his native South Wales.

Although there would be no fairytale ending after an early break by Geraint, the veteran later enjoyed the freedom of riding up Caerphilly Mountain with long-term friend and teammate Ben Swift to accompany him as fans cheered the pair home.

"It was emotional across the line. All the fans, I was choking up. Crossing the line with Swifty, who I've raced with since I was 12, it all came out then and when I was speaking to S4C, I couldn't even speak,” said Geraint.

"It’s definitely emotional. It’s super special, and to finish here is unbelievable.

“It's unreal, the atmosphere, all week, a lot of the years I've been racing, particularly today and yesterday, just riding through here, then the amount of people going nuts.

"It's mad that people care so much about me doing well; it meant so much. What can I say? What a way to finish,” added the cycling superstar, who owns the St Tewdrics wedding venue near Chepstow, and got to race twice up the Tumble over Abergavenny on Saturday, one of his favourite hill climbs in his book Mountains According to G.

With fans flocking to see Saturday’s Stage 5 roadside, around nine riders finally broke the elastic with 105km to go, with the group including Belgian King of the Mountains leader Victor Vercouillie, who took maximum points up Itton Hill on the Chepstow to Monmouth section, and the Old Ross Road climb back to Abergavenny to ensure the category title.

After reaching the Tumble summit for the first time, the peleton rejoined down to Blaenavon, before two riders Harttijs De Vries and Siebe Deweirdt broke clear to lead through Usk again and Govilon.

Caught at the bottom of the final Tumble ascent, Dutchman Thymen Arensman and Frenchman Pavel Sivakov then made separate bids for glory, but were reined in by Evenepoel, who launched a vicious sprint with 350m to go,, crossing with young British star Thomas Gloag right on his wheel.

But the final word must go to Tour winner and double Olympic gold medallist Geraint, who said: "I kind of feel like I've been lucky my whole career, really, with how things have panned out. Being able to be in my prime for the home Olympics.

"The years I've had and finishing here and deciding to stop this year and then have this weekend, the fact that the Tour of Britain is in September and I can do it as my last race, it's all kind of aligned and it's unbelievable, really.

"I never expected that at all, really. It's the stuff of dreams.”