Case Study TWELVE
Geoff Thomas’s Lifelong Payback Capstone
From professional football to beating cancer to climbing mountains
“Getting on the bike was a logical way for me to take on a crazy challenge. I wanted to find a way to say thank you to all the doctors and nurses who helped me get into remission.” — Geoff Thomas
INTRODUCTION
“It felt like I was back in control of my own destiny. For two years, my life was in the hands of others.”
“I started this 20 years ago. It was all purely to raise money for Cure Leukaemia... to fulfil a dream that would benefit patients across the UK.”
– Geoff Thomas
“The project changed me forever, and I am happy about that. It changed my relationship with the charity sector, changed my perception of my ability to influence and inspire. Fair to say that when I started this journey, this was about me and my challenge, but by the end it wasn’t about me at all, it was about the cause and all the people who have generously come on the journey with me to change outcomes and improve lives for people and families affected by blood cancer.”
– Tim Adams
Geoff Thomas’s Capstone exemplifies the layers of passion, forged through profound adversity, as well as an example of how a project not only transforms its creator but multiplies into new layers of meaning. His own battle with leukaemia gave rise to a Capstone of gratitude and service, expressed through two decades of endurance and fundraising.
Yet Geoff’s story is not just about one man’s transformation. It shows how passion cascades. Tim Adams, a very close friend of mine, was inspired to take on the Tour 21 challenge himself, progressing through the passion layers from novice to core. In turn, Tim’s journey sparked fresh inspiration in those around him and beyond. This ripple effect illustrates how a Capstone can move beyond legacy into amplification, changing not only one life, but many.
CORNERSTONE
Geoff Thomas was born in Manchester in 1964 and grew up with football at the centre of his life. It offered him structure and a sense of belonging, as much about family and community as it was about ambition. From Rochdale’s youth system, he rose through the ranks, eventually captaining Crystal Palace in an FA Cup Final and earning nine England caps. The values he carried with him namely teamwork, loyalty, and resilience, became part of his foundation, lessons that would later resurface on a different road.
KEYSTONE
Geoff’s football career was long and proud. He captained Crystal Palace FC with distinction and cherished an undefeated record in an England shirt. But in 2003, shortly into retirement, he had a life jolt of the most extreme kind.
Diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia, he was told he had just three months to live. His body, once finely tuned for sport, now belonged to science and medicine. For two years he endured chemotherapy, clinical trials, and long stretches where his fate was in the hands of doctors.
In 2005 he went into remission. But remission wasn’t a return to comfort, it was a reset. Having stared down mortality, Geoff emerged with clarity. His mission was no longer inward, it was outward. He had found his Capstone.
CAPSTONE
In 2005 Geoff launched the Geoff Thomas Foundation, but he didn’t stop at simply raising funds. He wanted to thank, to honour, and to suffer for something greater than himself.
A book arrived soon after diagnosis: Lance Armstrong’s It’s Not About the Bike. At that time, Armstrong symbolised post-cancer resurgence. Geoff found inspiration in that story. He also had ruined knees from football, so when thinking about a physical challenge, cycling was feasible. He resolved to ride the Tour de France route as an amateur. It was fight. It was brutal, “so it felt appropriate,” says Geoff.
“Getting on the bike was a logical way for me to take on a crazy challenge. I wanted to find a way to say thank you to all the doctors and nurses who helped me get into remission.”
That first ride grew into what is now known as The Tour 21, a group of amateurs riding all 21 stages of the Tour de France a week ahead of the professionals. No shortcuts. One of the hardest challenges an amateur athlete could attempt.
“Even if you don’t know what cycling is about, everyone knows how tough the Tour de France is,” says Geoff.
“Crawling up a mountain is hard. But fighting blood cancer, five weeks in bed, barely alive, that’s what gives me the strength to keep going. That battle was harder than anything I’ve endured in football or cycling.”
Each year Geoff rallies a new cohort: not elite riders or athletes but believers. He drives them forward mentally and physically. He gives his all to amplify the message and extend the mission of Cure Leukaemia.
“You become like a family,” Geoff says. “After a few weeks of doing ridiculously hard challenges together, a bond is built for life.”
“The hardest part? Saying yes to the challenge. Once you do that, everything falls into place.”
~ My experience of the 2025 Tour 21 ~
I joined Geoff and the 2025 Tour 21 cohort for one stage, riding 180km from Montpellier through the likes of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, finishing on the summit of the iconic mountain known as the ‘Beast of Provence’, Mont Ventoux. It was stage 16 of the 2025 Tour.
Geoff, despite his body being pushed to its absolute limits, was relentless. Lifting spirits and fighting on when the legs had nothing left.
Between stages, where most riders were desperate for recovery, Geoff was giving interviews, coordinating media, and securing features. Another part of his relentlessness was telling the story to any media he could. Two decades into this mission, he knows how to amplify the message.
The group rode as a band of brothers: “just get to Paris” was the mantra. What carried them through the darkest moments? The stories of survivors like Geoff as well as the memories of those who lost their battle.
“Inspiration when you are doing a challenge like Tour 21 can exist and appear in the darkest moments if you are looking for it and open your mind to it,” said one of the amateur riders in the 2025 Tour to me whilst we were riding in the peleton.
~ A life-changing experience for Tim Adams ~
There are many layers to this Capstone. First, Geoff’s own 20-year journey of gratitude and service. Then the ripple effect of his story inspiring others to take on the Tour 21, amplified further through media such as NBC’s three-part documentary. And then the personal journeys of those, like my friend Tim Adams, who turned inspiration into action.
Tim kept a tour diary and shared with me his notes and learnings from the experience. Here are quotes from him, which map directly onto our layers of the passion onion:
Novice / Recognition
“You think the Tour is something only professionals can do. For the rest of us, it seemed impossible… then improbable… then inevitable.”
Competence / Understanding
“You sign up not really understanding the size of the challenge. You start training, buy a proper bike. You look at the routes and stages. You train one day at a time and immerse yourself in what you are going to need to do to get through.”
“People spend money on bikes and parts, but what you really need to work on is your body and mind. The reality is that your mind will give up before your body or bike does, so mental strength deserves the most focus. For me, sleep became the most valuable fuel.”
Competence / Understanding
“During the Tour it very quickly hits you how hard the challenge is. It’s a dark tunnel. The lack of time for anything else due to the most gruelling schedule. The only way to get through it is as a unit”.
“We all quickly learned there is no place for ego in a team. If you burn out, you hold people up. If you go too hard you can stretch others too much and break them. We had an extremely well-functioning team. We had friends come out for only one stage and they were immediately hooked by the atmosphere, support, camaraderie. It takes everyone to make that team approach. The best teams embrace new people, new thinking, new energy. Egos would have prevented this.”
“During the challenge it was the small words, gestures and stories. They all go a long way and can make people’s days, lifting them up beyond comprehension. They take no time but the effect lasts forever. I have learned that words really matter.”
“Trying to be a positive energy makes you feel better, even if you aren’t feeling it yourself. Allowing yourself to laugh at jokes, be self-deprecating, sharing the honesty of your raw feelings told in a fun way relieves the burden, lets people know they aren’t alone, and can create amusement, reassurance and energy for others.”
Impasse / Commitment
“Money can’t buy this challenge or make you get up every day and conquer those mountains. You have to get through the climbs on your own. You reach a new level of mastery on the bike and it really does become not about you”.
“The stories and personal experiences of those within the group all affected me and gave fuel to my journey.”
“Balance between embracing the support of everyone back at home, but also not letting that weigh on you as a sense of responsibility. The key is to take the positive energy, not the negative pressure. The fear of letting people down is not good, but the joy of motivating and inspiring spurs you on. Positive energy vs negative pressure.”
“It’s ok to cry. My most meaningful and positive day that I will remember forever was accompanied with many tears. Those times also remind you of the power of friendship which can get you through the most difficult times. For me, stages 18 and 19. Knowing when to talk and advise vs knowing when to just be there is a subtlety that is often overlooked when being a friend.”
Core
“For everyone on the Tour, including Geoff and myself, it was transformational, not just the transactional finishing of a bike challenge”.
“The whole project has given me a perspective check — what’s important both in life, but also perspective of our suffering, a bike ride vs someone going through chemo.”
“The project changed me forever, and I am happy about that. It changed my relationship with the charity sector, changed my perception of my ability to influence and inspire. Fair to say that when I started this journey, this was about me and my challenge, but by the end it wasn’t about me at all, it was about the cause and all the people who have generously come on the journey with me to change outcomes and improve lives for people and families affected by blood cancer.”
“I set out to raise money for the charity and take on a physical challenge, but I was blown away by the difference you can make, and to see how the Tour can inspire. Charity is not just about raising money, awareness and connection can be important too.”
What started as a personal challenge for Geoff has turned into something much more meaningful.
Tim raised £150,000, and the Tour 21 class of 2025 raised over £1m. What began as Geoff’s personal Capstone had cascaded into something transformational for many others.
CONCLUSION: THE IMPACT
Geoff’s 20-year Capstone has raised millions and reshaped the UK clinical trials landscape. His efforts helped secure a £2m partnership with Deutsche Bank to fund the Trials Acceleration Programme. Today Cure Leukaemia supports specialist research nurses across 12 UK centres, connecting patients from a catchment of over 20 million people to life-saving trials.
His family is all in too. His wife Julie says, “He doesn’t really think about what’s going on at the time, he just pushes on. For the charity. For the cause.” His daughter Georgia has even worked for Cure Leukaemia. This is a multigenerational mission.
Writing this case study, I don’t think I can fully convey how tough the challenge is, to go from amateur to completing the Tour. Nor can I capture just how mentally strong Geoff really is, or the impact it has on those taking part, like my friend Tim. The suffering of the Tour 21 is hard to put into words.
Geoff’s Capstone proves that extraordinary impact doesn’t come from comfort zones, it comes from commitment. Saying yes to this challenge is saying yes to pain, to purpose, and to transformation.
The secret to 20 years of fundraising? Geoff has always been riding for something far bigger than himself.
“I take every day as precious because my life was under threat, and I saw so many people lose their battle. I just feel privileged to be able to do things like this.”
– Geoff Thomas