As Geraint Thomas leads the Tour de France, pride is evident in his boyhood cycling club and across the nation

About 22 years ago a skinny schoolboy with no competitive cycling experience took his bike down to the Maindy Flyers velodrome in Cardiff. He trained hard with local riders and, before long, was winning races against much older children.

Now that boy, Geraint Thomas - or “G” as he is known in the city and the world of cycling – is leading the Tour de France and could possibly become the first Welshman to win cycling’s biggest prize. And at Maindy Flyers, anticipation is building that the local champion could bring home the yellow jersey.

“He has the absolute blessing of everybody in Wales to go for it – we would absolutely love to see him win the Tour. It would be fabulous for cycling in Wales and for him. It is everything he deserves,” said Alan Davis, Thomas’s early mentor and the club’s head coach.

If Thomas, 32, needs a blessing it is because he is the teammate and de facto rival of Chris Froome, the four-time winner of the Tour and leader of Team Sky, and cycling etiquette would usually dictate that the Welshman should make way for his British senior.

But, as the race entered its 15th stage on Sunday, Froome was in second place, still a minute and 39 seconds behind Thomas, who was stubbornly refusing to relinquish the maillot jaune after two back-to-back stage victories in the Alps last week.

“Geraint is only about six months younger than Froome. If he waits for Froome to go, he will be the same age – he can’t afford to do that,” said Davis.

Excitement over a potential Welsh Tour victory is spreading beyond Maindy. In the popular city-centre cycling cafe I Want to Ride My Bike, which is showing every stage of the Tour live, local riders have been congregating to discuss his performance over coffee and cake.

“I would love to see him win it – I think everybody is behind him this time. I’ve even had a lot of people who don’t follow the sport wishing him well,” said Claire Hughes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Geraint Thomas in 1999 at Maindy. He had ridden an international youth tour in Germany that summer for Great Britain. Photograph: Gareth Enticott

Matt Berriman, who knows Thomas’s family, said he had detected signs of the Thomas effect at his office. “It’s amazing for Wales and cycling. There were extra bikes in work today and I think that is a direct result of G. It’s the busiest I’ve ever seen it.”

And even people who don’t class themselves as cycling devotees seem to be taken by the unusual spectacle of a Welshman aceing le grand boucle. David Clarke, a university IT worker, said his workmates had watched Thomas’s most recent stage victory in the office. “Everybody stopped to watch, even those who aren’t cycling fans,” he said.

Janet Powell added: “A lot of people are talking about it because he is a local boy.” When quizzed by the Observer, all four people waiting at a nearby bus stop all knew who was leading the Tour.

It was Davis’s son who introduced Thomas to track cycling in the mid-90s, and Davis used to take both boys on training rides every Sunday morning. But the coach, who was awarded an MBE last year for his contribution to cycling in Wales, only noticed there was something special about Thomas a few years later.

“He was always good, but we realised he was a bit special when he got to about 12 and 13. He started winning medals in under-16 championships,” he said.

“But if Geraint lost, he never sulked, and he always asked: ‘What do I need to do to win?’ He wants to be the best he can be – and it just happens that best he can be is possibly the best in the world.”

Thomas still visits the club regularly and his signature is scrawled in marker pen on the breeze-block walls of the club’s bike store, along with those of the club’s other success stories: Owain Doull and Elinor Barker, who are both Olympic champions.

“In the early days, there were 15 youngsters cycling with the club; there are now the best part of 200. Geraint and the others have played a huge part in that. I expect his recent success will bring in more kids,” said Davis.

Thomas’s exertions in the Alps last week have already fired the imaginations of some of the club’s youngest riders. Nine-year-old Lara Omiduar and her friend Ffion have been gripped by his victories.

“I’m really happy for him. I don’t know what age he started here, but look at him now in the yellow jersey. It’s just brilliant. It pushes me forward. If he can do it, then I can do it,” said Lara.

Ffion, who bunked off school to meet Thomas after the Tour of Britain finished in the city last year, said: “I met him here and got his autograph. I think he’s very good. I think I’d really like to be like him.”