Tour of Britain can scale new peaks with the draw of Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas on the startline

Team Sky announced Geraint Thomas's participation alongside Chris Froome and their right-hand man Wout Poels, but the biggest draw is undoubtedly the Welshman

Across all the Tour of Britain’s wild evolutions since its first edition in 1945, through the Milk Race years and the Kellogg’s Tour era to its modern renaissance, it might never have received a greater boon than the news that newly crowned Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas will be on the startline this September.

Thomas has spent the past two weeks enjoying his maillot jaune, celebrations which he admits have done some “damage”, and he will be back on the road in a little more than two weeks when the race begins in south Wales, with an opening stage from Pembrey Country Park on the Carmathenshire coast over the Brecon Beacons and down to Newport, skirting close to his hometown of Cardiff where he received a hero’s welcome from 8,000 proud locals a week ago.

Team Sky revealed his participation in the Tour of Britain on Thursday as part of a triple announcement alongside four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome and their right-hand man Wout Poels, and while it is undoubtedly a major coup for race organisers to have Froome in attendance, the biggest draw is undoubtedly his Welsh team-mate.

For an indication his of pulling power, see the list of favourites for the 2018 BBC sports personality of the year award, on which Thomas is currently second behind Harry Kane. He will ride into the race on the back of the wave of goodwill which greeted his Tour de France victory last month, the same wave which welcomed him back to Wales. Thomas has quickly become a box-office attraction while Froome remains less relatable, a ruthless winning machine who grew up without the hinterland that ties someone to their national colours like Thomas to Wales; There is still a golden postbox on Castle Street to commemorate his 2012 Olympic title and he has retained his guy-next-door image even in scaling such sporting heights.

Geraint Thomas celebrates at his homecoming in Cardiff (AFP/Getty Images)

The question remains as to who will lead the team around Britain – would you choose the most recent Tour de France winner or the four-time champion? – while it will also be interesting to see who emerges as Sky’s main man at the Vuelta a Espana, the grand tour both riders have decided they need a rest from; eight days over the Brecons and Cumbrian hills is a gentle jaunt compared to more than 3,000km over three gruelling weeks in Spain. Michal Kwiatkowski is a likely contender, having played a key domestique role in the Tour de France and followed that up with victory at the recent seven-stage Tour of Poland.

Organisers will simply hope for a race to remember. The Milk Race, as it was from 1958 until the early 90s, was a relatively low-key event funded by the Milk Marketing Board which saw winners slurp fresh white stuff from a glass bottle. The race reached a nadir in 1994 when a man drove at the peloton with his car, injuring several riders, and after subsequent sponsorship struggles it was pulled from the calendar after 1999.

But it has grown significantly since its revival in 2004. In 2013 Bradley Wiggins, the then Tour de France champion, won on home turf while the following year Nairo Quintana and Mark Cavendish (who misses out this year to recover from injury) were also part of a strong field. The 2017 Tour of Britain brought more than 1.5 million people to the roadside and generated an estimated £25m in tourism. Almost half of those spectators were “non-local”, showing just what pulling power the race possesses, and this year Team Sky’s pair of British Tour de France winners will only increase the interest.

And it is Thomas, above all else, who stirs emotion, as the local lad who won the famous yellow jersey.