Geoff Thomas, the former Crystal Palace football captain, faced significant challenges in his career, particularly with knee arthritis making biking difficult. After abandoning his attempt to complete the Tour 21 at 58, he thought his cycling days were over. However, with innovative treatment involving a hydrogel injection, he has now regained the ability to ride substantially. Celebrating his 60th birthday, he is set to tackle the Tour de France route, aiming to raise funds for Cure Leukaemia, showcasing endurance and resilience despite prior health concerns.
My bike sort of disintegrated underneath me, remembers Thomas. That's when the issues with my knees started so I'd not really been on the bike since then.
I didn't really want to do that. That was when Mark Gillett stepped in. The Premier League's chief medical officer took part in Tour 21 in 2022 when Thomas had to give up.
You put the injection into the joint, and over three to six months, it gets incorporated into the joint lining and forms a physical barrier.
The results have been spectacular for Thomas, who jokes that it feels like polyfilla at times, adding: I could feel the knee not going through the same pain as it was.
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