Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas has recovered from an “insane” homecoming and is looking forward to challenging on home turf when the Tour of Britain begins on Sunday.

The 32-year-old Welshman was welcomed back to Cardiff by more than 8,000 fans after winning the race to Paris in July and he will be cheered on once more by local supporters when the Tour of Britain’s first stage begins in Pembrey Country Park, Carmarthenshire this weekend.

Thomas told BBC Radio 5 live: “After the support I had, it’ll be nice to race on home roads. The homecoming was insane, I didn’t know what to expect, I was fearing it just being my wife and the dog.

“But it was just phenomenal – if the support at the Tour of Britain is anything like that, it’s going to be a pretty special eight days of racing.”

Thomas expects to spend much of his time on the road in a support role following a hectic August.

“There has been a lot of travelling and a few nights out as well so my form is certainly not what it was in France but I still should have decent enough legs to be in the race and hopefully at the front doing something,” he said.

Beyond Thomas, Team Sky’s line-up includes six-time Grand Tour winner Chris Froome, Ian Stannard, Hollands’ Wout Poels, Lukasz Wisniowski of Poland and Belarusian rider Vasil Kiryienka.

Primoz Roglic (Team LottoNL-Jumbo), Julian Alaphilippe, Maximilian Schachmann and Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) are also taking part and have all won Grand Tour stages this year.

The tour ends in Newport, the site of Wales’ National Velodrome, which is set to be renamed in Thomas’ honour.