The Tour de France is just about to finish and many enthusiasts are glued to the screen hoping that Geraint Thomas can repeat last year’s success.

Those hills and mountain passes that they climb have already been conquered, but not at the same speed, by a group of around fifty dedicated amateurs, who set off from Brussels one week before the official Tour.

Each rider, not knowing what lay ahead had a wholehearted commitment to achieving an ambition, by completing this arduous course.

Among that group was local man, Ceri Stone, who had spent much time in the saddle in preparation for Ironman in both Wales and Europe.

Three weeks in the saddle, with only two day’s break, was going to be a step into the unknown. Each stage was up to 130 miles with varying degrees of elevation, particularly in the latter stages in the Alps.

Each day brought the group one-step nearer to a personal goal and each stage completed meant one less to do. Disaster almost struck on the sixteenth stage when Ceri was involved in a collision with the bike in front when the rider braked sharply.

The result was a broken bike and painful grazes to knees and body, including a black eye.

The organisers, for whom he has very high praise, provided a replacement vehicle and the group, including Ceri, was able to continue.

Mind over matter prevailed and the legs kept pumping. The greatest challenge came on day twenty as they all climbed the steep slopes up to Val Thorens.

Waking up on his fifty-second birthday, twenty-five years on from the military coup he was part of in The Gambia, he knew he only had to complete the relatively short ride into Paris to achieve his personal goal.

The celebration party at the end of the day was not just for him, it was for all in the group who had ridden from Brussels to Paris via the Pyrennes and the Alps.

The euphoria will be with him for some time to come.