Geoff Thomas is a former footballer, who won nine caps for England and captained Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup Final against Manchester United.

In June 2003, a year after retirement, Geoff was diagnosed with leukaemia, from which he recovered and only 2 years later raised over £150,000 for Leukaemia Research by cycling each of the 21 stages of the 2005 Tour de France a few days ahead of the race itself with a group of friends and riders. This is a feat he’s repeated a further 3 times, and this summer will ride a final time in order to raise over £1 million for Cure Leukaemia.

In this inspirational conversation, we look back at the foundational experiences in Geoff’s life that have driven him in his career, surviving cancer and undertaking large scale endurance fundraising efforts. We discuss how he found his focus, how he manages and copes with the discomfort and pain of 21 successive days of cycling over 2000 miles leading and supporting over 20 fellow riders.

Geoff also explains how you can get involved and virtually ride one of the stages in order to help the project hit its financial target and you can push your own physical and psychological limits.