Leah Thomas (cyclist)

Leah Thomas
	Thomas at the 2019 Women's Tour of Scotland
Personal information
Full name	Leah Thomas
Born	May 30, 1989 (age 36); Cupertino, California, United States
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Amateur team
2014–2015	Metromint Cycling
Professional teams
2015–2017	Twenty16 p/b Sho-Air
2018	UnitedHealthcare
2019–2020	Bigla Pro Cycling
2021	Movistar Team
2022	Trek–Segafredo
Medal record
Women's road bicycle racing
Representing United States
Pan American Championships

Leah Thomas (born May 30, 1989) is an American professional racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Women's WorldTeam Trek–Segafredo. During her professional career, Thomas has won eleven races – including the time trial at the 2019 Pan American Road Championships, the 2022 United States National Time Trial Championships, as well as the 2019 Women's Tour of Scotland and 2021 Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche stage races.

Career

Early life

Born in Cupertino, California,^[1] Thomas grew up as a competitive gymnast in the Bay Area, competing in the Central Coast section for Monta Vista High School.^[5] Thomas graduated from Monta Vista High School in 2007 and from Northwestern University in 2011.^[6] She began running during her time at Northwestern, but due to injury, she was forced to stop and she began cycling shortly thereafter. In 2013 she moved to northeastern Arizona to teach, and she began to delve deeper into cycling there. She moved back to the Bay Area in 2014 to ride and live with her parents.^[7]

Professional career

Thomas turned professional with Twenty16 p/b Sho-Air in 2015, and was part of the team that competed in the women's team time trial at the UCI Road World Championships that year. She took her only win for the team at the 2017 Tour of the Gila, winning the stage three individual time trial in Tyrone, New Mexico, on her way to finishing third overall.^[8]^[9] She joined UnitedHealthcare for the 2018 season, taking her first successes outside of the United States, winning the general classification at the Tour de Feminin – O cenu Českého Švýcarska in July, and the Chrono Champenois time trial event in September. She later placed fifth in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Austria,^[10] missing the podium by seven seconds.

Thomas joined the European-based Bigla Pro Cycling for the 2019 season,^[11] and that May, she won the time trial at the Pan American Road Championships in Mexico.^[12] A third-place finish followed at the United States National Time Trial Championships, before she won the Women's Tour of Scotland in August.^[13] Having finished fourth on stage two, Thomas won an eight-rider sprint in Holyrood Park on the final day and having gained a further two bonus seconds at intermediate sprints during the day, she won the race by five seconds ahead of her former teammate Alison Jackson.^[14] She later concluded her season with a fourth victory, coming in the Chrono des Nations time trial in France.^[15] Thomas only contested five races in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and her Équipe Paule Ka team encountering financial issues, but won a stage at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana and she finished third at Strade Bianche.^[15]^[16]

Having signed a contract extension with Équipe Paule Ka before the team folded,^[17] Thomas ultimately signed a contract with the Movistar Team for the 2021 season,^[18] and took her best result in one of the classic cycle races, when she finished fourth in Brabantse Pijl. After another third-place finish in the United States National Time Trial Championships, Thomas won the second stage of the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche,^[19] finishing nine seconds clear of a nine-rider group in Beauchastel. She maintained this nine-second gap at the top of the general classification for the remainder of the race, also winning the points classification.^[20] Moving to Trek–Segafredo for the 2022 season,^[21] Thomas won her first United States National Time Trial Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee,^[22] before placing fifth in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Australia.^[23] Although holding a contract for the 2023 season,^[21] Thomas departed the team at the end of 2022, due to issues resulting from surgery earlier in the year.^[24]